r 

I    LIBRARY 

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PARIS    No.    11    RUE    D'ALGER 

Cable  Addresses 
BRASIER,  NEWYORK      GALLAHER,  PARIS 


CONTINENTAL  TOURING  SERVICE 


THREE    MEN    IN    A 
MOTOR    CAR 


A  SUMMER  TOUR  IN  FRANCE  AND  SWITZERLAND 
FOLLOWED  BY  SOME  OBSERVATIONS  ON  KINDRED  TOPICS 

By  WINTHROP   E.   SCARRITT 


WITH  INTRODUCTION 
By  C.  N.  AND  A.  M.  WILLIAMSON 


NEW   YORK 
E.  P.  BUTTON  &  COMPANY 

31  WEST  TWENTY-THIRD  STREET 


ROAD  NEAR  VEUDREUVE 


THREE    MEN    IN    A 
MOTOR    CAR 

OR 

A  SUMMER  TOUR  IN  FRANCE  AND  SWITZERLAND 
FOLLOWED  BY  SOME  OBSERVATIONS  ON  KINDRED  TOPICS 

By  WINTHROP   E.   SCARRITT 


WITH  INTRODUCTION 

By  C.  N.  AND  A.  M.  WILLIAMSON 

Authors  of  "  The  Lightning  Conductor  " 


NEW  YORK 

E.  P.  BUTTON  &  COMPANY 
31  WEST  TWENTY-THIRD  STREET 


Copyright  by 

E.  P.  BUTTON  &  Co. 

1906 

Published  April  1906 


The  Plimpton  Press  Norwood  Mass.  U.S.  A. 


"  Of  all  inventions,  the  alphabet  and  printing  press  alone  excepted, 
those  inventions  which  abridge  distance  have  done  most  for  civiliza- 
tion." —  MACAULAT. 


To 
THE  AUTOMOBILE  CLUB  OF  AMERICA 

WHICH  FROM  THE  BEGINNING  HAS  STOOD 
FOR  ALL  THAT  IS  HIGHEST  AND  BEST  IN 
THE  GLORIOUS  SPORT  OF  AUTOMOBILING 

THIS  LITTLE  VOLUME  IS  RESPECTFULLY 
DEDICATED. 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

The  Paradise  of  Good  Roads        2 

Three  Men  in  a  Motor-Car 30 

Beautiful  Sainte  Chapelle 50 

Gardens  of  Versailles 57 

Place  de  la  Concorde 60 

European  Villa 71 

His  Royal  Highness 78 

Over  Perfect  Roads  and  Under  Perfect  Skies 86 

In  the  Bernese  Oberland 95 

Famous  Old  Bridge  at  Lucerne 98 

Waterfall  —  900  Feet  —  Lauterbrunnen 101 

Looking  Towards  Jungfrau 104 

Val  du  Fier Ill 

From  Orleans  to  Paris 194 

The  Times-Herald  Cup  Winner,  1895 247 

Back  to  Beginnings 256 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  PAGE 

INTRODUCTION ix 

FOREWORD xi 

I-in.    "THREE  MEN  IN  A  BOAT" 1-29 

IV-XIV.    THREE  MEN  m  A  MOTOR-CAR 30-143 

XV.    A  VISIT  TO  THE  HOME  OP  THE  WINNER  OF  THE 

GORDON-BENNETT  CUP 144 

XVI.    MAN'S  ANCIENT  FOES 149 

XVII.    THE  AUTOMOBILE  OF  THE  FUTURE       ....  167 
XVIII.    THE  COMMERCIAL  VEHICLE  AND  NEWSPAPER 

DISTRIBUTION 174 

XIX.    AUTOMOBILE  LEGISLATION 177 

XX.    GOOD  ROADS 194 

XXI.    THE  FUEL  OF  THE  FUTURE 203 

XXII.    CARS  AT  THE  CUSTOM  HOUSE 224 

XXIII.  PRACTICAL  SUGGESTIONS 231 

XXIV.  Ths  FIRST  AUTOMOBILE  CONTESTS  IN  AMERICA  244 
XXV.    CONCLUSION  256 


Vll 


INTRODUCTION 

THOSE  who  like  a  laugh,  those  who  travel, 
those  who  would  travel  if  they  could,  and  all 
those  interested  in  the  social  revolution  im- 
plied in  the  word  "  automobilism,"  will  find 
something  to  their  taste  in  this  book  of  Mr. 
Winthrop  E.  Scarritt.  A  former  president  of 
The  Automobile  Club  of  America  and  one 
of  the  honored  pioneers  of  the  motor-car  in 
his  own  country,  he  here  undertakes  to  show 
Americans  how  they  can  extend  their  pleas- 
ure to  other  continents.  It  is  the  deliberate 
opinion  of  all  who  have  tried  it,  that  life  can 
offer  few  more  vivid  joys  than  a  tour  in  a 
motor-car  through  beautiful  country.  No- 
where can  this  pleasure  be  so  perfectly  enjoyed 
as  on  the  Continent  of  Europe;  and  especially 
in  France,  whose  roads  are  the  envy  of  the 
world.  To  Americans  especially,  a  European 
motor  tour  must  appeal  with  a  peculiar  allure- 
ment. To  travel  in  a  train  is  to  be  hurled 
from  place  to  place  in  a  box,  with  little  fresh 
air,  no  contact  with  the  people,  no  chance  of 


INTRODUCTION 

getting  at  the  life  of  the  country.  In  a  motor- 
car you  enter  into  its  heart,  its  air  fills  your 
lungs;  you  are  delightfully  exhilarated;  you  see 
the  people  at  work  and  at  play;  for  the  time 
you  are  one  of  them.  You  can  haste  when  it 
pleases  you,  and  linger  at  your  will.  You  are 
free  as  the  clouds  or  the  birds. 

Mr.  Scarritt,  writing  from  a  ripe  experience, 
tells  in  his  book  how  the  fascinating  pleasures 
of  a  European  tour  may  be  most  successfully 
obtained.  With  him  as  guide,  the  way  is 
smooth;  difficulties  vanish.  Much  as  he  has 
done  for  automobilism  in  America,  he  is  here 
putting  his  countrymen  under  a  fresh  debt, 
and  he  is  adding  to  the  happiness  and  civili- 
zation of  the  world  by  bringing  nations  nearer, 
and  teaching  us  better  to  understand  each 
other. 

C.  N.  &  A.  M.  WILLIAMSON 


FOREWORD 

THE  Dreams  of  Yesterday  are  the  Realities 
of  To-day,  and  the  Commonplaces  of  To- 
morrow. 

Morse,  with  daring  audacity,  lifts  his  hand 
into  the  clouds,  and  seizing  the  pen  of  the 
Almighty  ticks  out  that  first  message  between 
Baltimore  and  Washington,  while  an  as- 
tounded world  stands  with  uncovered  head 
and  joins  reverently  in  the  glad  acclaim, 
"What  hath  God  wrought!"  That  was  Yes- 
terday. To-day,  a  young  Italian  genius, 
without  the  aid  even  of  a  slender  wire,  flashes 
signals  across  the  Atlantic,  and  dreams  that 
to-morrow  he  will  send  them  around  the 
world. 

Man's  conquest  over  Nature,  —  his  knowl- 
edge of  her  secrets,  his  dominion  over  her 
forces,  has  been  greater  in  the  span  of  memory 
of  men  now  living  than  in  all  the  countless 
centuries  of  human  history  which  preceded. 
When  the  history  of  man's  achievements  shall 
have  been  made  up,  it  will  be  found  that  the 

xi 


FOREWORD 

coming  of  the  Automobile  marked  an  Epoch 
in  Civilization. 

It  is  a  curious  fact  that,  notwithstanding 
our  boasted  nineteenth-century  progress  in 
methods,  discovery  and  invention,  up  to  the 
coming  of  the  motor-car  man  had  made  abso- 
lutely no  progress  since  the  dawn  of  history 
in  the  transportation  of  the  individual  unit  of 
society.  We  boast  that  we  had  captured  the 
very  Gods  of  the  Ancients,  —  Air,  Steam, 
Electricity,  —  and  had  harnessed  them  to  our 
big  chariots  such  as  the  Ocean  Greyhound 
and  the  Lackawanna  Limited  Express.  But 
these  relate  to  the  transportation  of  numbers 
of  individuals  or  masses  of  freight.  It  remains 
that,  so  far  as  the  transportation  of  the  indi- 
vidual is  concerned,  until  the  coming  of  the 
motor-car  humanity  had  made  no  progress 
whatever,  and,  in  fact,  had  no  other  or  differ- 
ent means  of  going  about  than  it  did  when 
the  human  race  left  its  cradle  on  the  banks 
of  the  Euphrates  and  began  its  westward 
march.  The  horses  and  chariots  of  Pharaoh 
were  just  as  fine  as  any  we  may  see  to-day  on 
Fifth  Avenue  or  Champs  Elysees.  Hitherto 
we  had  captured  the  big  Gods  of  the  An- 
cients and  harnessed  them  to  our  big  chari- 
ots, but  the  little  gods,  or  little  daimones, 


FOREWORD 

had  been  too  spry  and  elusive,  and  had  es- 
caped us. 

In  the  last  analysis,  therefore,  the  Automo- 
bile means  that  man  by  his  genius  has  finally 
succeeded  in  segregating  a  little  part  of  the 
giant  forces  of  Nature  and  in  harnessing  it  to 
his  individual  chariot.  Man's  feet  are  no 
longer  leaden,  creeping  slowly  over  the  earth, 
they  have  become  winged  with  the  power  of 
the  Seven  Leagued  Boots,  and  the  individual 
may  now  scorn  the  earth  and  travel  over  its 
surface  with  the  speed  of  the  wind. 

Measured  by  what  it  is  and  by  what  it  is  to 
accomplish,  the  Automobile  takes  on  a  new 
dignity  and  is  lifted  out  of  the  realm  of  the  toy 
and  the  plaything,  to  become  a  mighty  and 
beneficent  factor  in  Civilization. 

Hundreds  of  Americans  have  already  ex- 
perienced the  joys  of  a  motor  trip  over  the 
delightful  roads  of  the  old  world,  —  particu- 
larly of  France  and  Switzerland.  Thousands 
more  contemplate  this  journey.  Many  more 
would  undertake  it  if  they  knew  how  easily  it 
may  be  accomplished.  It  will  be  the  object 
of  the  writer  in  the  following  pages  to  give 
such  definite  and  succinct  information  as  one 
needs  to  possess  in  order  to  accomplish  the 
trip  comfortably,  together  with  a  brief  de- 

xiii 


FOREWORD 

scription  of  the  things  that  are  most  worth 
while.  But  through  it  all  shall  run  the  fixed 
thread  of  a  larger  purpose,  viz. :  to  glorify  the 
Automobile. 

Yesterday  a  Plaything  of  the  Few;  To-day 
a  Servant  of  the  Many;  To-morrow  the 
Necessity  of  Humanity. 


XIV 


CHAPTER  I 

"THREE  MEN  IN  A  BOAT" 

Outward  Bound, 
On  Board  S.S.  Philadelphia, 
July  29. 

THERE  were  three  of  us  —  plain,  every-day 
American  business  men,  worn  and  tired  with 
the  grind  of  life,  and  hungry  to  get  away  from 
the  cares  of  the  "street,"  from  'phones  and 
stock-tickers,  from  printing-press  and  knitting- 
mill;  so  we  cut  the  Gordian  knot  of  many 
difficulties,  mostly  imaginary,  and  said  sol- 
emnly to  ourselves,  and  to  each  other,  "We 
will  take  a  motor-car,  and  go  away  to  Europe 
-  that  Paradise  of  Good  Roads  —  to  forget 
dull  care,  and  renew  our  youth  in  an  auto- 
mobile trip  through  some  of  the  grandest 
country  the  sun  sees  in  all  his  journey  around 
the  globe.  Hurry,  worry,  and  responsibilities 
are  left  behind;  the  wireless  ticks  out  a  mes- 
sage of  good  cheer  and  greeting  to  the  folks 
at  home,  and  we  are  plowing  the  waves  of 
mid-ocean,  off  for  what  every  automobilist 
will  at  once  pronounce  an  ideal  holiday. 

i 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

And  now  I  am  to  begin  my  story.  The  day 
is  one  of  those  perfect  ones  when  "Heaven 
and  Earth  are  in  tune."  The  sea  is  as  smooth 
as  Lake  Hopatcong.  The  air  comes  to  your 
cheek  as  soft  and  balmy  as  though  wafted 
from  the  Gardens  of  Paradise. 

My  first  chapter  will  relate  first  what  turned 
my  thought  to  the  automobile,  and  second, 
how  I  acquired  a  large  allopathic  dose  of 
trouble  in  my  first  motor-car.  Speaking  more 
accurately,  however,  my  trouble  was  not  in 
getting  hold  of  the  car,  but  in  getting  rid  of  it. 
A  story  of  a  raw  Irishman  illustrates  exactly 
my  condition.  Pat,  shortly  after  his  arrival 
fresh  from  the  old  sod,  was  invited  by  his 
neighbor  Mike  to  go  coon-hunting.  By  the 
light  of  the  moon  they  treed  the  varmint, 
which  turned  out  to  be  a  wildcat.  Mike 
went  up  the  tree  to  shake  down  the  supposed 
coon.  Pat  was  to  grab  and  hold  the  beast. 
The  animal  fell,  and  immediately  there  was 
a  terrible  commotion  at  the  foot  of  the  tree. 
Mike  shouted  down  to  his  friend:  "Shall  I 
come  down,  Pat,  and  help  yez  hould  him?" 
"Be  gob,  I  wish  yez  would  come  down  and 
help  me  let  go,"  screamed  Pat. 

During  the  summer  of  '99  I  had  taken  for 
my  little  family  a  cottage  at  Long  Branch. 


"THREE  MEN  IN  A  BOAT" 

The  house  faced  the  famous  Ocean  Avenue 
Drive,  and  occasionally  throughout  the  season 
we  saw  gliding  noiselessly  up  and  down  a 
little  steam  runabout,  one  of  the  early  types 
of  the  Locomobile.  It  did  not  seem  much 
larger  than  a  baby-wagon,  but  it  got  over  the 
ground  delightfully. 

A  few  weeks  later  that  splendid  pioneer 
Alexander  S.  Winton,  accompanied  by  that 
versatile  newspaper  man  Charles  S.  Shanks, 
made  an  automobile  trip  from  Cleveland  to 
New  York.  Mr.  Shanks'  clever  and  thrilling 
account  of  the  journey  was  published  not  only 
in  the  Cleveland  Plaindealer  but  reproduced 
in  an  attractive  booklet  giving  a  detailed  his- 
tory of  this  epoch-making  run.  I  read  every 
word  of  that  little  red-covered  booklet  with 
growing  interest,  and  when  I  came  to  the 
finish  I  was  conscious  that  I  had  become 
inoculated  and  that  the  microbe  automobilious 
had  found  lodgment  in  my  system. 

The  serious  and  important  question  which 
next  confronted  me  was  what  particular  brand 
of  trouble  I  should  undertake  to  acquire. 
Business,  politics,  social  and  domestic  prob- 
lems, all  sank  to  minor  importance,  and  the 
sole  and  solemn  business  of  existence  was  the 
investigation  of  the  automobile  and  the  pur- 

3 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

chase  of  the  best  possible  brand  at  the  most 
reasonable  price.  About  this  time,  my  life- 
long friend  H.  W.  Whipple,  overcome  by  my 
enthusiastic  eloquence  on  the  only  theme  then 
worthy  of  consideration  or  discussion,  likewise 
acquired  the  disease,  and  together  we  held 
many  and  long-continued  conferences  on  the 
tremendously  important  subject.  Finally,  to- 
gether we  visited  the  Locomobile  Agency  in 
New  York.  We  carefully  examined  the  cun- 
ning little  runabout  and  were  treated,  after 
standing  patiently  in  line,  awaiting  our  turn, 
to  a  fascinating  ride  for  five  or  six  asphalt 
blocks  outside  the  salesroom. 

At  the  conclusion  of  the  demonstration, 
friend  Whipple's  enthusiasm  had  arisen  to 
110°  F.  He  immediately  produced  his  check- 
book and  wrote  a  few  hieroglyphics  by  virtue 
of  which  carelessness  the  ownership  of  a  car 
passed  from  the  company  to  him.  Seeing 
that  I  did  not  follow  his  example,  he  rather 
suspiciously  inquired  the  reason  of  my  inertia. 
I  pointed  out  the  light  wire  wheels,  the  deli- 
cate and  complicated  system  of  piping,  the 
fragile  and  toy-like  construction  of  the  ve- 
hicle throughout,  and  positively  declined  to 
follow  his  courageous  example.  I  proposed 
to  look  over  the  entire  field  and  at  my  lei- 

4 


"THREE  MEN  IN  A  BOAT" 

sure  come  to  a  logical  and  conservative  de- 
cision. 

This  story  does  not  presume  to  chronicle 
the  trials  and  tribulations  my  friend  encoun- 
tered in  his  new  possession,  because  I  soon 
had  troubles  of  my  own  to  keep  me  busy. 
Suffice  it  to  say  that  Whipple  twice  burnt  up 
all  the  burnable  part  of  his  car  —  that  he 
scarcely  ever  went  out  without  some  mishap, 
that  through  one  long  hot  summer  he  agonized 
-  yes,  that  is  the  word  —  over  and  under  that 
car,  until  his  robust  and  rotund  proportions 
literally  melted  away  and  at  the  end  of  the 
season  he  turned  up  his  automobile  toes,  gave 
up  the  ghost  and  said:  "I  have  had  enough. 
The  car  cost  me  seven  hundred  and  fifty 
dollars,  I  have  in  a  few  months  spent  twelve 
hundred  dollars  in  repairs.  Is  there  any  fool 
anywhere  who  will  pay  me  two  hundred  and  fifty 
dollars  for  it  ?"  There  was  such  an  one,  and 
he,  being  something  of  a  mechanic,  succeeded 
in  getting  quite  satisfactoiy  service  out  of  the 
little  car.  This  incident  shows  that  the  per- 
sonal equation  enters  largely  into  the  problem. 
I  well  remember  Whipple' s  offering  to  wager 
the  intending  purchaser  fifty  dollars  that  if 
he  bought  the  car  he  could  not  run  it  a  mile 
without  something  getting  out  of  order.  The 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

original  Locomobile  was  too  light  and  too 
frail.  Nevertheless  it  was  the  best  steam  car 
that  could  be  had  at  the  time,  and  the  sport 
owes  much  to  its  manufacturers,  who  were 
noble  pioneers  in  this  new  and  important  field. 

However,  my  friend's  experience  with  his 
American  car  was  so  bitter  that  I  turned  to 
the  foreign  cars  as  being  more  substantial  and 
satisfactory. 

I  happened  one  day  to  learn  that  a  Mr. 
Jacob  Sheindig,  whom  I  will,  for  the  purpose 
of  this  writing,  locate  at  St.  Augustine,  Florida, 
had  a  foreign  car  for  sale  cheap.  Imme- 
diately I  wrote  him  for  description  and  terms. 
A  prompt  reply  brought  the  information  that 
my  correspondent  possessed  a  fine  Benz  car 
of  latest  pattern  and  up  to  date  in  every 
particular.  That  "it  was  a  handsome  and 
imposing  turnout  and  would  average  about 
eighteen  miles  per  hour."  It  had  been  im- 
ported as  a  model  from  which  an  American 
company  proposed  to  build  cars,  but  the 
company  had  "bust  up"  and  consequently 
the  present  owner  had  bought  the  model  car 
very  cheap.  He  and  his  wife  and  children 
were  much  in  love  with  it,  and  were  extremely 
loath  to  part  with  such  a  household  treasure; 
nevertheless  they  would  reluctantly  do  so  be- 


"THREE  MEN  IN  A  BOAT" 

cause  the  roads  were  so  poor  in  their  vicinity 
that  it  was  little  short  of  a  crime  to  run  such 
a  fine  car  over  such  poor  roads.  The  car  cost 
and  was  cheap  at  two  thousand  dollars,  but  as 
the  present  owner  had  bought  it  for  much 
less  I  could  have  it  for  six  hundred  and  fifty 
dollars,  and  it  was  really  a  shame  to  sell  it  at 
any  such  price.  If  I  would  look  in  the  Horse- 
less Age  of  November  29th,  I  would  see  an  exact 
picture  of  this  delightful  car  and  an  accurate 
description  thereof.  Eagerly  I  secured  a  copy 
of  the  Horseless  Age  referred  to,  and  the  fol- 
lowing cut  and  description  appeared: 


THE  BENr  DUC. 

1900  MODELS 

"1900  models"  are  already  beginning  to  make  their  ap- 
pearance.    One  of  the  first  is  that  of  Benz  &  Co.,  of  Mann- 

7 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

heim,  Germany,  of  which  I  send  you  an  illustration  herewith. 
The  carriage,  which  is  known  as  the  "Due,"  is  rather  larger 
than  their  well-known  "Ideal,"  which  will,  however,  still  be 
made.  The  new  vehicle  is  5  ft.  3  in.  wide  and  is  arranged  to 
comfortably  seat  three  or  four  persons.  The  motive  power 
is  supplied  by  a  5  h.p.  single-cylinder  engine,  with  electric 
ignition  and  water  jacket.  A  new  departure  is  the  provision 
of  a  water  cooler  in  addition  to  the  ordinary  condenser,  by 
means  of  which  frequent  change  of  the  cylinder-cooling 
water  is  rendered  unnecessary.  The  power  is  transmitted 
by  Belts  working  on  fast  and  loose  pulleys,  there  being  three 
forward  speeds  and  one  reverse.  Another  new  departure  is 
the  adoption  of  wooden  wheels  with  solid  rubber  tires  in 
place  of  the  wire  wheels  used  in  the  "Ideal"  carriage. 

What  great  luck  was  this  which  had  be- 
fallen me!  I  knew  the  Benz  Company  to  be 
one  of  the  oldest  and  most  reputable  in  Ger- 
many. Surely  this  car  was  far  superior  to 
the  trappy,  fragile  affairs  of  American  manu- 
facture. "Made  in  Germany"  had  never 
before  looked  so  good  to  me.  Like  all  novices 
I  was  anxious  to  have  a  car  right  off,  and 
impatient  of  delay.  I  wrote  Mr.  Sheindig  that 
I  was  attracted  by  his  description  and  inter- 
ested in  his  proposition.  That  if  he  would 
send  the  car  C.  O.  D.,  with  privilege  of  exam- 
ination, he  might  do  so.  This  suggestion  he 
declined,  and  drew  another  pathetic  picture  of 
his  sorrowing  wife  and  disconsolate  children 

8 


"THREE  MEN  IN  A  BOAT" 

standing  around  refusing  to  be  reconciled  to 
giving  up  the  handsome  motor-car.  If  I 
wanted  the  car  I  would  better  hurry,  as  others 
were  negotiating  for  it.  He  referred  to  two 
men  in  New  York  who  had  ridden  in  the 
"handsome  and  imposing  turnout."  These 
gentlemen  corroborated  all  the  good  things 
that  had  been  said  about  this  particular  Benz 
and  I  decided  to  send  my  check.  This  I  did 
at  once,  ordering  the  car  shipped  forthwith. 
Ten  days  later  it  arrived  crated,  and  was 
placed  on  the  dock.  The  next  day  was,  much 
to  my  satisfaction,  a  holiday.  A  truckman 
was  engaged  to  deliver  the  precious  freight  at 
my  Munn  Avenue  residence,  The  House  of 
the  White  Lions,  in  East  Orange,  New  Jersey. 
Accompanied  by  Whipple,  R.  G.  Du  Bois, 
and  a  Mr.  Adams,  an  expert,  we  sallied  forth 
to  examine  my  first  automobile.  The  crate 
loomed  large  and  ominous  in  front  of  the  barn 
door.  My  curious  peeps  between  the  slats 
of  the  crate  were  not  reassuring.  As  slat  after 
slat  was  torn  away,  heart  and  hope  began  to 
sink.  At  last  the  "handsome"  turnout  stood 
stripped  of  its  covering.  One  glance  was 
enough,  I  had  been  imposed  upon,  and  that 
was  all  that  was  "imposing"  about  the  whole 
affair.  I  was  immediately  aroused  by  a 

9 


savage  yell  of  ghoulish  glee  from  my  friend 
"Whip."  He  exclaimed:  "You  are  the  man 
who  would  not  have  an  American  car;  oh,  no, 
it  wasn't  good  enough.  You  are  the  man  who 
proposed  to  look  over  the  entire  field  at  your 
leisure  and  come  *  to  a  logical  and  conservative 
decision." 

The  general  lines  of  the  car  were  the  same 
as  -those  in  the  picture,  but  instead  of  being  a 
new  Benz  car  and  an  up-to-date  model,  it 
must  have  been  of  an  old,  old  vintage  —  in 
fact,  one  of  the  very  first  of  that  well-known 
make.  The  car  was  old,  rickety,  and  almost 
innocent  of  paint.  The  chickens  had  roosted 
in  it;  tufts  of  hair  in  the  back  and  cushions 
were  peeping  out  curiously  and  good-naturedly 
to  see  what  it  was  all  about.  The  rear  wheels 
were  abnormally  high,  while  the  front  ones 
were  abnormally  low,  each  equipped  with  a 
solid  rubber  band  about  the  size  of  those  on 
a  good,  self-respecting  perambulator.  Whip- 
pie  stood  by,  and  between  paroxysms  of 
laughter  made  what  were  supposed  to  be 
facetious  remarks.  He  declared  Noah  had 
had  this  antediluvian  rig  with  him  in  the  ark; 
then  he  modified  the  statement  and  apologized 
to  Noah.  He  said  father  Noah  had  the  car 
but  he  didn't  think  it  was  worth  taking  into 

10 


"THREE  MEN  IN  A  BOAT" 

the  ark  and  so  left  it  out  in  the  rain.  Sadly 
I  confessed  its  appearance  justified  that  con- 
clusion. Then  the  expert  became  busy  and 
tried  to  start  the  fine  old  ruin.  But  evidently 
resenting  the  levity  it  had  occasioned,  the 
engine  refused  to  give  forth  a  single  explosion 
or  show  any  sign  of  life.  For  three  long 
mortal  hours  we  threatened  and  cajoled  and 
coaxed.  It  was  as  dead  as  a  heap  of  scrap- 
iron.  The  carbureter  was  of  ancient  style, 
as  big  as  a  gallon  bucket  and  intersected  with 
layers  of  gauze  wire.  The  transmission  sys- 
tem was  the  belt  and  pulley  type;  the  engine 
was  a  single-cylinder  affair  as  large  as  a  young 
cannon,  carefully  and  inscrutably  concealed 
in  the  very  heart  of  the  car  where  it  was  most 
inaccessible.  There  was  no  starting  crank. 
The  only  way  to  start  the  engine  was  to  lift 
the  rear  of  the  body,  reach  far  over  towards 
the  center  of  the  car,  grasping  with  the  hand 
a  large  fly-wheel,  and  give  it  a  quick  jerk 
towards  you.  When  an  explosion  did  occur 
there  was  almost  invariably  a  back  kick,  and 
if  you  were  not  exceedingly  agile  in  letting  go 
the  rim  of  the  fly-wheel  the  tendency  was  to 
pull  you  violently  into  the  car,  smashing  your 
head  against  the  upturned  framework. 

At  length  the  expert  succeeded  in  getting 
11 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

the  engine  running.  Then  I  was  almost  sorry 
he  had;  the  noise  was  quite  as  loud  and  about 
as  pleasing  as  that  of  a  stone-crushing  ma- 
chine. The  blue  smoke  poured  from  the  tiny 
muffler  in  overpoweringly  odoriferous  stran- 
gulation. But  at  last  "she  felt  the  thrill  of 
life  along  her  keel,"  and  she  moved,  or  rather 
waddled,  slowly  off,  much  like  a  lame  duck 
starting  out  for  a  mud  bath.  Going  out  of 
the  yard  into  the  street  the  car  had  to  cross 
the  depression  of  the  curb  gutter.  There  she 
groaned  and  stopped,  unable  to  lift  herself  out 
of  this  slight  ditch.  This  man  Whipple  fol- 
lowed and  continued  his  irreverent,  if  not 
wholly  irrelevant,  remarks.  He  advised  me  to 
get  a  jackass  to  pull  the  car  out;  then  he  said 
I  could  do  the  task  quite  as  well  myself.  We 
pushed  the  car  out  of  the  gutter  on  to  the 
crown  of  the  street.  Suddenly  the  "  old  Nick" 
seemed  to  seize  the  thing.  It  started  at  full 
swing,  rushed  across  the  street  in  a  flash, 
struck  a  young  tree,  and  such  was  the  impact 
that  the  front  axle  bent  the  slender  trunk  and 
began  to  slide  or  shin  up.  Again  the  maniacal 
screams  from  my  alleged  friend:  " Come  down 
out  that  tree,"  he  shouted;  "what  do  you 
think  that  is,  a  flying-machine,  or  is  it  a 
patent  trap  to  hunt  squirrels?"  Well,  the 

12 


"THREE  MEN  IN  A  BOAT" 

engine  stopped  and  we  backed  down.  But 
why  continue  this  painful  narrative?  We 
succeeded  in  getting  the  car  straightened  out 
on  the  level  street  and  were  off  finally,  noise, 
smoke,  odor  and  all,  and  succeeded  by  actual 
measurements  in  getting  up  the  enormous 
blood-curdling  speed  of  eight  miles  per  hour. 

Every  horse  we  met  danced  a  fandango  and 
tried  to  turn  circles  or  stand  on  its  head; 
mothers  heard  us  coming  and  gathered  their 
children  in  their  arms  and  ran  for  the  cellar; 
cats  climbed  trees  and  every  dog  in  the  village 
gave  chase  in  company  with  an  army  of  small 
boys.  That  was  a  strenuous  ride.  I  have  a 
vivid  picture  of  a  blind  horse  running  away 
with  a  milk  cart,  and  milk  literally  raining 
down  from  the  trees ;  also  of  two  mules  hitched 
to  a  wagon  trying  to  climb  up  a  neighbor's 
front  porch  and  the  neighbor  trying  to  beat 
them  back  with  an  umbrella.  His  language 
was  something  frightful. 

That  ride  came  to  an  end  as  all  pleasant  (  ?) 
incidents  must.  I  shall  not  forget  it.  I  think 
I  made  more  enemies  among  my  neighbors 
in  that  half -hour  than  I  can  recover  in  the 
next  thirty  years. 

When  I  returned  to  the  bosom  of  my  family, 
the  hot  water  was  boiling  out  of  the  radiator 

13 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

of  the  car  and  the  steam  rising  in  graceful 
white  clouds.  Notwithstanding  these  pleas- 
ant little  idiosyncrasies  of  the  "imposing" 
Benz,  I  invited  my  charming  wife  for  a  ride. 
She  gently  but  firmly  declined,  and,  secretly, 
I  have  had  a  greater  admiration  for  her  good 
sense  ever  since.  The  car  was  impossible. 


14 


CHAPTER  II 

ONE  day  I  heard  of  a  Mr.  Blevney,  a  Ger- 
man machinist  residing  in  Newark,  who 
understood  foreign  cars.  I  arranged  for  him 
to  come  out  and  inspect  the  Patriarch.  When 
the  barn  doors  were  flung  open,  he  shouted, 
"  Mein  Himmel !  dot  vas  mein  old  Benz.  Look 
on  the  front  spring  you  see  where  one  time  I 
patched  him."  So  it  was.  He  continued 
excitedly,  "Dot  was  a  bully  car;  why,  mein 
froint,  one  time  the  German  Emperor  rode 
mit  dot  car  in."  The  much  excited  Teuton 
then  proceeded  to  tell  me  its  history.  It  was 
one  of  the  first  turned  out  by  the  Benz  factory, 
at  Mannheim,  Germany.  He  had  sent  an 
agent  abroad  to  purchase  this  car.  One  day 
the  man  was  driving  it  along  the  highway 
which  ran  parallel  to  one  of  the  railroads 
leading  into  Berlin.  The  special  train  of  the 
Emperor  came  along  bearing  his  august  per- 
sonage. He  noticed  the  automobile,  which 
was  a  great  novelty  at  that  time.  The  Em- 
peror stopped  the  train  and  sent  an  officer  to 

15 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

the  driver  of  the  motor-car  with  a  message 
that  the  Emperor  would  like  to  examine  the 
vehicle.  Naturally,  the  German  was  all  but 
overcome  with  this  new  honor.  After  a  care- 
ful examination  the  Emperor  expressed  a 
desire  to  be  taught  to  operate  the  car,  and 
such  was  his  natural  aptitude  that  in  a  few 
minutes  this  able  and  versatile  sovereign  was 
driving  the  car  at  a  jolly  clip  towards  Berlin, 
the  special  train  having  been  ordered  to 
follow. 

My  German  friend  brought  the  car  to 
Newark,  N.  J.  From  this  point  he  had  taken 
it  to  various  county  fairs,  operating  and 
exhibiting  it  and  receiving  as  remuneration 
twenty-five  dollars  per  day.  Great  throngs 
flocked  to  these  exhibitions  and  this  horseless 
carriage  created  as  much  excitement  as  a 
successful  flying-machine  would  to-day. 

My  Teutonic  friend  finally  sold  the  car  to 
some  manufacturers  in  Buffalo;  they  in  turn 
sold  it  to  the  man  of  St.  Augustine,  and  he, 
after  an  adventurous  career  with  it,  as  I  found 
later,  unloaded  the  nightmare  upon  me.  As 
the  Oranges  are  really  a  suburb  of  Newark, 
after  going  around  the  circle,  the  car  —  like 
the  cat  —  had  strangely  enough  come  back 
to  its  original  starting-point. 

16 


"THREE  MEN  IN  A  BOAT" 

The  German  machinist  was  loath  to  under- 
take the  rehabilitation  of  the  Benz.  The 
compression  was  bad,  the  wheels  were  wobbly; 
the  ignition  system  was  antiquated  and  below 
par,  and  the  belts  rotten.  After  a  long  and 
silent  contemplation  he  said,  "I  advise  that 
you  keep  him  in  a  museum,  otherwise  run 
him  mit  the  river  in."  I  felt  that  I  had  been 
swindled.  I  had  numerous  letters  from  the 
man  who  had  sold  me  the  car,  setting  forth  its 
good  qualities,  and  scarcely  one  of  the  repre- 
sentations was  true. 

I  think  I  am  a  patient  and  long-suffering 
individual,  but  the  more  I  thought  of  this 
"handsome  and  imposing  turnout"  and  of 
the  manner  of  its  acquisition,  the  more  indig- 
nant I  became.  Smarting  with  a  keen  sense 
of  wrong  and  injustice,  I  determined  to  "  have 
the  law  on  the  man."  Upon  consulting  my 
lawyer,  Mr.  H.  H.  Snedeker,  what  was  my 
chagrin  and  astonishment  to  hear  him  say: 
"The  chances  are  that  you  will  never  be  able 
to  recover;  the  man  who  sold  you  the  car  is 
a  resident  of  another  state  —  you  would  have 
to  bring  your  action  in  his  home  town  —  his 
friends  and  neighbors  would  constitute  the 
jury  —  local  sympathy  would  be  with  him 
and  against  you  —  you  would  have  to  em- 

17 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

ploy  local  counsel,  and  the  chances  are  that 
you  would  be  defeated,  and  only  succeed  in 
throwing  good  money  after  bad." 

Thus  my  lawyer  friend  counseled  me.  If 
I  were  angry  before  this,  you  may  well  under- 
stand how  this  interview  was  like  pouring 
gasolene  on  a  burning  flame.  That  night  I 
thought  the  whole  matter  over.  I  admitted 
the  bitter  fact  that  my  first  automobile  ex- 
periment was  a  failure  and  tried  to  reason 
myself  into  the  sensible  conclusion  advised  by 
my  attorney,  namely:  charge  the  whole  thing 
up  to  experience,  and  forget  it.  Try  as  I 
might,  however,  my  mind  rebelled  at  this 
conclusion  of  the  matter.  I  was  sorry  for 
myself,  and  while  I  did  not  mind  so  much  the 
loss  of  a  few  hundred  dollars,  I  had  that 
instinctive  characteristic  of  every  American, 
a  hatred  of  being  "done."  I  determined 
therefore,  to  "get  even."  I  did  not  know 
how,  nor  when,  nor  where;  I  simply  deter- 
mined to  get  even.  I  forgot  to  say  that  pre- 
vious to  this  time  I  had  written  Mr.  Sheindig, 
telling  him  that  he  had  obtained  my  money 
under  false  pretenses  and  demanding  its  re- 
turn. He  wrote  back  a  politely  sarcastic 
letter  (How  I  did  admire  that  man's  nerve!) 
in  which  he  stated,  "  I  do  not  like  the  tone  of 

18 


"THREE  MEN  IN  A  BOAT" 

your  letter.  You  are  evidently  in  a  frame  of 
mind  not  to  be  reasoned  with,  and  I  therefore 
enclose  you  the  card  of  my  attorney."  That 
letter  settled  it.  I  determined  to  spend  ten 
years,  and  as  many  thousand  dollars,  if  neces- 
sary, in  bringing  this  cool  gentleman  to  brook. 
At  this  point  there  began  a  line  of  inductive 
reasoning  born  of  the  necessities  of  the  situa- 
tion, a  la  Sherlock  Holmes,  which  kind  and 
over-indulgent  friends  have  since  told  me 
would  not  have  discredited  that  great  de- 
tective himself. 

The  only  clew  upon  which  I  could  build 
was  that  this  man  had  owned  a  motor-car. 
I  thought  the  matter  out  as  follows :  first,  any 
man  who  had  once  owned  a  motor-car  and 
disposed  of  it  would  want  to  buy  another; 
second,  Sheindig  has  owned  a  motor-car  and 
unloaded  it  upon  an  eager  victim;  third,  he 
will  be  in  the  market  for  another  car;  fourth, 
his  name  suggests  that  he  belongs  to  a  race 
who  always  want  to  buy  cheap,  and  are  mas- 
ters of  the  art;  fifth,  if  he  wants  to  buy  cheap 
he  will  look  for  another  second-hand  car; 
sixth,  there  are  more  second-hand  cars  in  the 
city  of  New  York  than  in  all  the  rest  of  the 
country  put  together,  and  he  will  naturally 
come  to  this  market;  seventh,  in  order  to  find 

19 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

second-hand  cars  for  sale,  he  will  advertise 
in  the  Horseless  Age  —  the  only  motor  vehicle 
paper  at  that  time  published  in  New  York 
City;  eighth,  it  therefore  behooves  me  to  keep 
an  eye  on  the  Horseless  Age  and  say  nothing. 

This  was  my  chain  of  reasoning.  Let  us 
see  how  it  worked  out. 

Several  weeks  passed  and  my  adversary 
was  as  silent  as  the  grave.  One  day,  however, 
when  hope  had  begun  to  wane,  the  postman 
dropped  a  copy  of  the  Horseless  Age  on  my 
office  desk,  and  from  force  of  habit  I  turned 
to  the  advertising  columns.  There,  oh  joy! 
I  read  the  following  advertisement:  "Wanted: 
A  second-hand  motor-car  of  American  manu- 
facture. Must  be  good  and  cheap.  Address, 
with  full  particulars,  Jacob  Sheindig,  P.  O. 
Box  643,  St.  Augustine,  Fla."  I  jumped  to 
my  feet  with  a  joyous  yell,  "I've  got  him! 
I've  got  him!"  I  am  sure  the  members  of  the 
staid  old  banking  firm  of  J.  &  W.  Seligman  and 
Company  (most  of  whom  I  rejoice  to  say  have 
since  become  enthusiastic  motorists)  with 
whom  I  had  at  that  time  the  honor  of  being 
connected,  must  have  thought  me  suddenly 
insane. 

At  last  the  hour  for  action  had  arrived.  I 
lost  no  time  in  betaking  myself  to  the  office  of 

20 


"THREE  MEN  IN  A  BOAT" 

Mr.  R.  G.  Du  Bois,  at  that  time  the  only 
dealer  in  second-hand  automobiles  in  New 
York  City.  I  told  him  the  history  of  the 
whole  transaction,  and  requested  his  assist- 
ance in  evening  up  scores  with  my  friend 
Jacob.  I  found  Mr.  Du  Bois  most  kind  and 
quite  willing  to  step  upon  the  stage  and  take 
part  in  the  play.  He  looked  over  his  list  of 
available  cars  and  found  he  had  a  second- 
hand Winton  which  might  be  used  as  a  tempt- 
ing bait  to  decoy  the  shrewd  Sheindig  into  the 
meshes  of  our  snare.  The  fast  mail  that  night 
took  South  a  letter  offering  for  sale  a  fine 
second-hand,  single-cylinder,  Winton  motor- 
car in  first-class  condition,  which  had  been 
used  but  slightly.  The  price  was  seven  hun- 
dred and  fifty  dollars.  The  return  mail  brought 
a  letter  from  Sheindig  saying  that  he  liked  the 
description  of  the  car,  but  that  he  would  not 
pay  over  seven  hundred  dollars  for  it.  He 
also  stated  that  he  had  sent  a  check  for  seven 
hundred  dollars  to  a  friend  who  was  an  engi- 
neer on  a  North  River  tug-boat ;  that  his  friend 
was  quite  competent  to  judge  all  kinds  of 
machinery,  and  that  if  he  examined  the  car 
and  approved  it,  he  was  authorized  to  make 
the  purchase,  turning  over  the  check  for  seven 
hundred  dollars. 

21 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

The  tug  engineer  the  following  day  came 
and  examined  and  approved  the  car.  The 
question  then  arose  as  to  the  character  of  the 
seven-hundred-dollar  check.  On  investiga- 
tion it  was  found  to  be  the  draft  of  a  local 
bank  drawn  on  its  New  York  correspondent, 
the  National  City  Bank.  Mr.  Du  Bois  stated 
to  Sheindig's  representative  that  while  he  had 
no  doubt  the  check  was  good,  yet  he  was 
acting  for  others  in  the  matter,  and  suggested 
that  they  go  to  the  bank  and  have  the  check 
certified.  This  was  done  forthwith.  The 
trap  was  now  about  ready  to  be  sprung  when 
suddenly  it  occurred  to  me  that  perhaps  Jacob 
Sheindig  would  claim  that  he  was  purchasing 
the  car  for  some  one  else,  and  thus  thwart  all 
our  deep-laid  plans.  Consequently  the  fol- 
lowing telegram  was  sent  him:  "It  has  oc- 
curred to  me  that  you  may  be  buying  this  car 
for  some  one  else.  If  so,  I  will  not  sell  it  for 
less  than  seven  hundred  fifty  dollars.  An- 
swer. R.  G.  Du  Bois."  Back  came  a  prompt 
reply:  " I  am  no  agent.  The  car  is  exclusively 
for  my  own  use.  Jacob  Sheindig." 

That  was  the  final  nail  in  Jacob's  coffin. 
At  two  o'clock  Mr.  Du  Bois  and  Sheindig's 
agent  met  at  the  garage.  The  check  was  en- 
dorsed and  passed  over  to  Du  Bois  and  the 


"THREE  MEN  IN  A  BOAT" 

car  delivered  to  Sheindig  through  his  agent. 
Just  as  he  was  about  to  take  the  car  from  the 
garage  a  deputy  sheriff  stepped  up,  tapped 
him  on  the  shoulder  and  said,  "I  am  sorry, 
sir,  but  you  cannot  take  that  car  from  here, 
I  have  an  attachment  on  it,"  and  immediately 
served  the  necessary  papers. 

The  rest  of  the  story  is  soon  told.  The 
engineer  of  the  tug  on  the  North  River  was 
"mad  as  a  March  hare."  He  stormed  and 
cursed  until  the  officer  threatened  to  lock  him 
up,  when  he  subsided  and  rushed  off  to  wire 
his  principal  the  situation.  I  must  say  Jacob 
Sheindig  took  his  medicine  philosophically 
and  like  a  man.  He  wrote  Mr.  Du  Bois:  "I 
acknowledge  that  I  have  been  beaten,  I  see 
now  that  I  was  too  independent,  but  I  thought 
I  had  the  drop  on  Scarritt;  now  I  discover  that 
he  has  the  drop  on  me  and  that  makes  all  the 
difference  in  the  world.  I  really  think  he 
would  make  a  bright  and  shining  ornament  to 
our  race.  Please  tell  him  I  will  promptly,  if 
not  cheerfully,  pay  him  his  money  back  and 
take  the  car." 

The  last  I  heard  of  the  historic  old  Benz,  it 
was  again  on  its  way  South.  Perhaps  it  is 
reckoned  now  as  only  old  and  abandoned 
junk  falling  into  final  decay  beneath  the 

23 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

shadow  of  some  lone  palmetto  in  the  distant 
South  land.  Alas,  it  deserved  a  better  fate, 
and  even  now  I  would  like  to  know  its  where- 
abouts that  I  might  rescue  it  and  place  it  in 
some  automobile  museum,  for  coming  gen- 
erations to  study  as  one  of  the  ancestors  of 
the  horseless  tribe. 

Since  I  parted  with  my  old  Benz,  the  mem- 
ory of  which  is  not  distasteful  to  me  because 
I  "got  even,"  I  have  had  twenty-two  differ- 
ent automobiles,  but  I  state  a  simple  fact  in 
saying  that  all  the  twenty-two  combined  never 
furnished  me  the  kind  of  thrills  or  quantity 
and  quality  of  mental  excitement  afforded  by 
my  genuine  and  only  original  Benz. 


24 


CHAPTER  III 

PRIMITIVE  man  lived  in  caves.  High  up 
on  the  side  of  a  cliff  was  the  door  of  his 
domicile,  with  a  huge  stone  rolled  before  it  to 
keep  out  the  savage  beasts.  There  was  no 
lack  of  fresh  air  and  ventilation.  Later,  our 
barbarous  ancestors  became  lake-dwellers, 
and  built  their  rude  shacks  on  long  poles  over 
the  waters  of  a  lake.  They  were  a  healthy 
and  sturdy  race;  they  knew  nothing  of  sani- 
tation ;  they  lived  a  natural  life,  near  to  nature's 
heart,  as  did  the  beasts  of  the  field,  and  she, 
old  Dame  Nature,  was  their  cherishing  mother. 
The  centuries  and  the  ages  roll  on;  savagery, 
semi-savagery,  civilization,  modern  progress 
-  each  in  turn  and  in  panoramic  procession, 
pass  across  the  stage  of  Time.  Once  more 
man  becomes  a  cliff-dweller,  but  we  call  the 
cliffs  Apartment  Houses,  or  Hotels,  or  Sky- 
scrapers. These  modern  caves,  however,  are 
not  properly  ventilated;  they  are  the  home  of 
the  prolific  microbe,  and  the  dwellers  therein, 
whatever  their  attainments  otherwise,  have 

25 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

far  less  stock  of  physical  health  and  stamina 
than  did  our  savage  ancestors  in  the  dawn  of 
history. 

Hurry  is  the  great  American  disease.  The 
scientist  who  identifies  the  microbe,  and  dis- 
covers the  antidote,  will  take  his  place  in 
the  Hall  of  Fame.  In  these  days  of  keen 
competition  in  every  department  of  human 
activity,  of  Tariffs  and  Trusts,  of  artistic 
Shipbuilding  swindles,  of  Insurance  scandals 
that  cause  us  to  reflect  "How  the  mighty  are 
fallen,"  -I- repeat,  in  these  days  of  Frenzied 
Finance,  and  constant  competition,  there  are 
few  enough  things  of  surpassing  interest  to 
draw  men  away  from  the  treadmill  of  busi- 
ness and  from  their  apartments  and  much 
bedecorated  caves. 

But  the  automobile  —  aye,  that  is  the  thing, 
-  the  automobile,  to  woo  weary  men  away 
from 

City  street,  to  country  lane, 

Where,  to  the  music  of  murmuring  brook  and  singing  bird, 
The  tides  of  life  and  health  set  in  again. 

No  one  has  yet  begun  to  catalogue,  or  fully 
anticipate,  the  blessings  that  are  to  follow  in 
the  train  of  the  motor-car.  Thus  the  auto- 
mobile wooed  us  weary  men  away  to  France. 

Before  continuing  our  story,  a  few  words 

26 


"THREE  MEN  IN  A  BOAT" 

may  not  be  amiss  as  to  the  personnel  of  the 
"Three  Men  in  a  Boat,"  later  to  be  "Three 
Men  in  a  Motor-Car." 

The  president  and  mechanical  genius  of 
the  party  is  Mr.  John  A.  Hill,  a  well-known 
member  of  the  Automobile  Club  of  America, 
and  at  one  time  chairman  of  its  Contest 
Committee.  Mr.  Hill,  a  few  years  ago,  was 
driving  a  locomotive  on  the  Rio  Grande  Rail- 
road. No  man  on  the  road  could  drive  an 
engine  better  than  he.  Later,  he  wrote  some 
railroad  stories,  several  of  which  were  pub- 
lished in  McClures  Magazine.  These  thrill- 
ing tales  of  adventure  on  the  rail  were  written 
in  a  style  that  showed  their  author  to  be  a 
clever  master  of  his  pen.  Subsequently,  Mr. 
Hill  came  East  and  purchased  a  controlling 
interest  in  the  American  Machinist,  a  paper 
well  known  in  the  mechanical  world.  Later 
he  secured  control  of  Power,  another  paper  in 
the  same  field,  and  later  still  purchased  the 
American  Mining  and  Engineering  Journal. 
By  his  genius  and  ability  Mr.  Hill  has  devel- 
oped these  papers,  until  they  are  to-day  rec- 
ognized as  the  foremost  publications  of  their 
class  in  the  world,  and  worth,  to  their  owner, 
an  independent  fortune.  Mr.  Hill  may  be 
taken  as  a  fine  type  of  the  independent,  self- 

27 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

made  American.  The  car  which  he  takes 
abroad  with  him  for  the  journey  is  a  fine 
model  18-24  horse-power  French  car.  No.  2 
in  the  party  is  Mr.  Charles  H.  Kavanaugh,  a 
wealthy  manufacturer  of  Waterford,  New 
York.  He  is  a  man  who  has  fought  his  way 
through  adverse  circumstances  and  bitter 
struggles  to  a  position  of  standing  in  the 
commercial  world.  Mr.  Kavanaugh  has  a 
holy  hatred  of  being  robbed,  and  it  was  he 
who  compelled  those  responsible  for  his  losses 
through  subscribing  for  bonds  of  the  defunct 
United  States  Shipbuilding  Company,  to  make 
restitution.  The  writer  of  these  letters  is  the 
third  member  of  the  automobile  trio.  He 
pleads  guilty  to  the  indictment  of  having  been 
one  of  the  original  American  cranks  on  the 
subject,  and  rejoices  that  he  has  had  a  small 
part  in  the  promotion  of  the  gospel  of  auto- 
mobiling  in  America.  He  is  second  to  no 
living  man  in  the  largeness  of  his  faith  as  to 
the  economic  revolutions  and  the  beneficent 
results  which  are  to  be  accomplished  by  the 
universal  use  of  the  automobile. 

And  now  the  delightful  week  on  shipboard 
has  ended.  For  seven  days  the  good  vessel 
has  steadily  ploughed  eastward,  with  never  a 
stop  of  the  great  engines.  The  last  night  on 

98 


"THREE  MEN  IN  A  BOAT" 

board,  the  customary  concert  was  given. 
There  were  so  many  automobilists  present 
that  the  entertainment  had  a  decidedly  motor- 
car trend.  One  of  the  company  gave  "An 
Apostrophe  to  the  Automobile,"  in  which  the 
glories  of  the  tireless  steed  were  enthusiasti- 
cally sung. 

At  eleven  o'clock,  July  29,  we  touched  at 
Plymouth.  The  Paris  edition  of  the  New 
York  Herald  looked  good  enough  to  eat. 
What  impressed  us  most  in  the  paper  was  a 
column  of  space  given  up  to  short  paragraphs 
of  automobile  news,  a  number  of  these  telling 
of  the  purchase  of  French  cars  by  well-known 
Americans.  Soon  we  were  skirting  the  shores 
of  Merry  England,  and  who  could  stop  in  a 
stuffy  cabin  and  write,  under  such  circum- 
stances ?  So,  Auf  Wiedersehen. 


29 


CHAPTER  IV 

THREE    MEN    IN    A    MOTOR    CAR 

To  come  off  a  stuffy  transatlantic  liner, 
after  seven  days  of  murky,  foggy  weather,  to 
feel  the  sunshine  until  you  can  taste  it;  to 
take  your  motor-car  out  of  its  crate  and  have 
it  start  with  the  first  turn  of  the  crank;  to 
glide  out  of  Southampton,  and  within  an  hour 
find  yourself  in  a  country  so  beautiful  that  if 
it  were  any  more  so  it  would  be  Paradise  — 
this  single  experience  is  worth  the  whole  time 
and  expense  of  crossing  the  ocean.  Chief  of 
Transportation  Hill  and  the  writer  are  Jer- 
seyites,  and  accustomed  to  traveling  over  the 
best  macadam  roads  in  all  the  dominion  of 
your  Uncle  Sam.  But  when  the  three  men 
in  their  motor-car  really  got  straightened  out 
on  a  typical  English  highway,  with  its  well- 
trimmed  green  hedges  on  either  side,  illumi- 
nated with  a  fringe  of  deep  red  poppies,  "the 
sunshine  and  the  shadows  chasing  each  other 
over  billowy  fields  of  golden  grain,"  the  boy 
spirit  broke  forth  and  "Uncle  John"  opened 

30 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

her  up.  The  only  reason  he  did  not  go  faster 
over  that  smooth  white  highway  was  because 
the  motor-car  simply  didn't  have  it  in  her  to 
do  more. 

The  poet  sings  of  "a  perfect  day  in  June," 
but  it  was  left  to  us  to  find  a  perfect  day  in 
July  on  which  to  drive  to  London.  Being 
familiar  with  Jersey  roads  (as  well  as  Justice), 
we  could  but  compare  them  with  the  English 
highways.  The  latter  are  much  narrower 
than  ours,  but  that  is  the  only  point  to  their 
disadvantage.  They  are  smooth,  hard,  and 
kept  in  admirable  condition.  In  the  eighty- 
mile  run  to  London  we  did  not  discover  a 
single  spot  that  needed  attention.  In  Jersey 
we  build  a  good  road,  then  neglect  it  until 
finally  it  becomes  impossible  to  properly  repair 
it,  forgetting  that  in  the  care  of  roads,  as  well 
as  of  motor-cars,  and  other  things  besides,  a 
stitch  in  time  saves  nine.  Much  of  the  Eng- 
lish highway  is  built  on,  or  below,  the  natural 
level  of  the  ground.  In  America  we  build 
the  road-bed  far  above  the  natural  surface, 
and  leave  a  ditch  on  either  side.  The  English 
road  has  but  one  point  to  freeze  from  —  the 
top.  Our  American  roads  freeze  from  three 
points,  the  top  and  both  sides,  and,  therefore, 
the  edges  are  constantly  breaking  away.  As 

31 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

a  result,  it  is  extremely  difficult  to  keep  the 
roads  in  condition.  Our  English  brothers 
have  had  about  nine  hundred  years  the  start 
of  us  in  road-building.  Why  not  take  a  leaf 
out  of  their  book? 

I  wish  I  could  paint  for  you  the  picture  that 
presented  itself  in  unbroken  panorama  on 
that  delightful  run.  The  summer  clouds  were 
floating  lazily  in  a  soft,  deep  blue  sky;  the 
small,  perfectly  kept  English  farms  were  each 
outlined  by  the  inevitable  hedge;  the  whole 
landscape  was  a  great  checker-board,  beau- 
tiful enough  for  angels  to  play  upon.  Occa- 
sionally, in  some  deep  and  distant  wood,  we 
would  catch  a  glimpse  of  baronial  castle  and 
lofty  tower,  and  floating  above  all  —  the  Eng- 
lish flag.  Sometimes  there  would  be  waving 
with  the  English  emblem  the  glorious  Stars 
and  Stripes.  God  grant  that  these  two  flags 
may  always  float  together  in  every  land  where 
Civilization  has  a  home  or  Freedom  a  banner. 

The  farmhouses  were  neat,  modest  brick 
buildings,  their  lawns  and  gardens  being  as 
well  kept  as,  the  lawns  of  any  of  our  suburban 
districts  at  home.  In  fact,  the  whole  country 
gives  one  the  impression  of  being  finished,  with 
not  another  blessed  thing  to  be  done  until 
Gabriel  blows  his  trumpet. 

32 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

Our  route  took  us  through  Aldershot,  the 
famous  military  rendezvous.  Here  we  saw 
Tommy  Atkins  in  his  red  coat,  and  wondered 
why  it  was  red  —  a  color,  the  writer  remarked 
to  "Uncle  John,"  which  furnishes  the  easiest 
target  in  the  world.  But  "Uncle  John"  was 
wiser  than  I,  and  gave  me  this  interesting  bit 
of  information.  Years  ago,  a  commission  was 
appointed  to  determine  what  color,  in  uni- 
forms, was  the  least  conspicuous.  A  number 
of  soldiers  were  dressed  in  different  colored 
suits,  and  marched  away  together.  At  short 
range  the  red  was  most  conspicuous,  but  at  a 
distance  of  a  few  hundred  yards  it  grew  much 
less  so.  First  to  fade  from  sight  was  the 
brown  Khaki,  then  the  red  uniform,  and  last 
of  all  the  blue,  showing  the  blue  to  be  the 
most  conspicuous  color  of  all.  Perhaps  this 
story  may  suggest  why  so  many  motor-cars 
are  painted  red,  and  so  few  blue. 

All  too  soon  London  looms  up  in  the  dis- 
tance, and  our  first  ride  on  foreign  soil  is 
almost  at  an  end.  We  crossed  Waterloo 
Bridge  and  went  down  the  Strand  to  St. 
Paul's  Cathedral.  At  this  point  our  atten- 
tion was  attracted  to  an  American  automobile 
-  a  saucy  little  Franklin,  bowling  along 
within  the  shadow  of  the  great  edifice.  Noth- 

33 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

ing  we  have  seen  since  has  made  us  feel  quite 
so  much  at  home  as  did  that  neighborly  little 
Franklin. 

The  following  day  we  presented  our  cre- 
dentials to  Mr.  Johnson,  the  popular  Secretary 
of  the  Automobile  Club  of  Great  Britain  and 
Ireland.  He  is  a  fine  type  of  the  English 
gentleman,  and  extended  us  a  most  cordial 
welcome.  I  also  had  the  pleasure  of  renewing 
my  acquaintance  with  Henry  Norman,  M.P., 
a  cultured  and  able  man  and  an  enthusiastic 
motorist.  To  both  of  these  gentlemen  we  are 
indebted  for  courteous  suggestions  and  infor- 
mation concerning  our  future  journeyings. 

A  word  about  motor  buses  in  London.  As 
yet,  they  are  "conspicuous  by  their  fewness." 
Nevertheless,  a  dozen  or  more  were  moving 
up  and  down  the  crowded  Strand.  They  are 
driven  by  the  internal  combustion  engine, 
varying  in  horse-power  from  20  to  30.  Most 
of  them  are  shaft-driven.  They  go  at  twice 
the  speed  of  the  horse-drawn  bus,  and  carry 
twice  as  many  passengers.  They  have  solid 
rubber  tires  and  are  handled  by  drivers  of 
the  greatest  skill,  going  along  frequently  at 
from  fourteen  to  sixteen  miles  per  hour.  The 
"Bobbies"  do  not  frown  or  threaten  the 
drivers,  and  I  am  beginning  to  regard  the 

34 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

London  "cop"  as  a  very  decent  sort  of  an 
officer.  In  the  country  districts,  however, 
English  motorists  have  to  contend  with  police 
traps  and  country  constables  who  are  just 
about  as  prejudiced  and  pusillanimous  as  the 
Long  Island  genus.  Invective  could  surely 
go  no  further  than  this. 

And  now  a  word  of  information  as  to  the 
procedure  for  getting  one's  motor-car  from 
New  York  to  its  destination  abroad.  By  all 
odds,  the  best  plan  is  to  go  to  what  is  known 
as  a  "Forwarder"  (Forwarding  Agent)  and 
put  yourself  in  his  hands.  Such  a  one  is 
E.  B.  Gallaher,  228  W.  58th  St.,  New  York. 
Our  car  is  of  French  manufacture,  and  weighs 
twenty-two  hundred  pounds.  By  appoint- 
ment, your  New  York  "Forwarder"  arranges 
that  your  car  shall  go  to  the  Custom  House. 
An  official  examines  it,  makes  a  record  of  the 
number  of  its  engine,  and  other  details.  This 
record  is  kept,  and  enables  the  owner  to  bring 
his  car  back  into  the  country  without  incon- 
venience, delay,  or  the  payment  of  duty.  The 
"Forwarder"  now  takes  possession  of  the  car, 
and  crates  it  in  a  strong  crate  put  together 
by  bolts.  He  trucks  it  to  the  dock,  and  con- 
signs it  as  you  may  direct.  The  total  cost,  in- 
cluding freight,  crating,  and  "Forwarder's" 

35 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

charges,  in  our  case,  was  two  hundred  and 
twenty  dollars.  The  crate  is  preserved  for 
the  homeward  shipment.  The  next  chapter 
will  give  further  instructions. 

I  have  already  referred  in  this  letter  to 
Hon.  Henry  Norman.  This  enthusiastic  Eng- 
lish motorist  is  the  editor  of  The  World's 
Work  and  Play.  In  a  recent  issue  of  his 
paper,  he  has  an  exceedingly  interesting  article 
on  "Motor  Racing  and  Motor  Pleasure." 
He  thinks  the  Gordon-Bennett  races  have  had 
their  day,  and  should  be  abandoned.  He  also 
gives  an  account  of  the  last  of  these  races  in 
France.  His  reference  to  the  American  cars 
-  entirely  unprejudiced  —  will  be  of  interest. 
He  says:  "The  American  cars,  as  heretofore, 
were  a  negligible  quantity.  America  does  no 
better  in  the  manufacturing  of  racing  cars  than 
in  that  of  touring  cars,  which  are  still  a  long 
way  behind  European  models.  The  only 
American  prominence  is  in  steam  touring  cars, 
of  which  much  the  best,  indeed  practically 
the  only  one  that  need  be  considered,  is  the 
White."  Mr.  Norman  will  find  at  no  distant 
date  that  the  American  cars  are  not  a  negligi- 
ble quantity. 


36 


CHAPTER  V 

IT  is  said  that  we  live  and  learn,  but  by  the 
time  we  have  learned  it  is  too  late  to  live. 
This  thought  ground  itself  thoroughly  into  our 
minds  at  Havre,  that  cold  rainy  Thursday 
morning  when  we  three  enthusiastic  motorists 
landed  on  French  soil  and  spent  the  entire  day 
trying  to  get  our  motor-car  through  the  end- 
less red  tape  of  the  Custom  House.  We  had 
come  by  boat  from  Southampton,  and  had 
slept  in  narrow,  shallow  troughs  resembling  so 
many  coffins.  These  semi-coffins  were  in  the 
extreme  aft  of  the  vessel,  overhanging  the 
water,  and  in  close  proximity  to  the  screw. 
The  boat  was  crowded  and  we  were  thankful 
to  get  even  these  poor  accommodations.  In- 
deed, had  we  not  wired  in  advance,  we  would 
have  had  the  experience  of  sitting  up  during 
the  long  night,  while  crossing  the  Channel. 

I  will  not  discourage  motorists  who  are 
following  my  story,  by  detailing  the  aggra- 
vating experiences  of  that  nightmare  day  at 
Havre.  All  our  delay  and  troubles  could 

37 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

have  been  avoided  if  we  had  been  properly 
instructed  in  time. 

The  last  chapter  told  how  to  proceed  to  get 
a  'motor-car  shipped  from  New  York.  In 
addition  to  what  has  already  been  said,  let 
me  suggest  further: 

First  of  all,  send  your  car  on  a  week  in 
advance  of  your  coming.  This  is  important; 
there  will  be  delays  enough,  at  best.  Second, 
consign  it  to  a  responsible  correspondent. 
Third,  write  well  in  advance  to  your  cor- 
respondent, stating  plainly  that  you  have  con- 
signed the  car  to  him;  that  it  left  a  certain 
port  on  such  a  steamer  and  on  such  a  date, 
and  will  arrive  probably  on  a  given  date. 
Also  send  the  consignee  your  bill  of  lading. 
Further,  give  him  the  name  of  the  car,  manu- 
facturer's number  of  engine,  horse-power, 
where  built,  style  of  body  and  weight.  Fourth, 
instruct  your  correspondent  to  get  the  car 
through  the  Custom  House  and  pay  the  amount 
of  deposit  required  for  duty.  (This  sum  will 
be  refunded  when  you  leave  the  country.) 
Request,  further,  that  he  have  the  car,  on  a 
given  date,  at  a  garage,  filled  with  oil  and 
water,  and  ready  to  go  on  the  road.  Again, 
ask  that  he  make  arrangements  with  the  local 
official  examiner  to  meet  you  at  the  garage 

38 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

at  the  hour  of  your  arrival,  that  he  may 
examine  you  and  your  chauffeur,  and  at  once 
issue  you  a  certificate  of  capacity  to  drive 
your  car  in  France.  Fifth,  be  sure  to  take 
with  you  three  small  unmounted  photographs 
(1J  x  2  inches)  of  yourself.  One  of  these  will 
be  attached  to  your  certificate  for  purposes 
of  identification.  If  these  instructions  are 
followed  exactly,  and  the  correspondent  does 
his  full  duty  (for  which  a  fee  is  charged)  there 
is  no  reason  why,  within  two  hours  after  you 
land,  you  may  not  have  your  temporary  cer- 
tificate in  your  pocket,  and  be  driving  out  of 
the  city  for  delights  that  lie  beyond. 

Havre  is,  for  a  number  of  reasons,  the  best 
French  port  at  which  to  land  your  car. 
Cherbourg  is  the  worst. 

The  information  here  set  forth  would  have 
been  as  manna  to  a  hungry  man,  indeed 
priceless,  if  we  could  have  had  it  just  one 
month  earlier  than  it  came  to  us  by  the  hard 
and  thorny  path  of  experience. 

Later  on,  however,  I  struck  a  vein  of  in- 
formation that  was  even  more  valuable  and 
comprehensive  than  that  already  set  forth. 
It  came  about  in  this  way:  after  arriving  in 
Paris,  I  met  that  human  dynamo  of  enter- 
prise and  energy,  E.  B.  Gallaher.  I  described 

39 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

to  him  the  troubles  we  had  experienced  in 
getting  started  out  of  Havre  —  the  utter 
impossibility  of  getting  the  Frenchmen  to 
move  quickly.  I  told  him  in  emphatic  lan- 
guage what  I  thought  of  the  foreign  officials  as 
a  class,  and  ended  by  stating  that  when  a 
man  was  dead,  and  knew  he  was  dead  there 
was  still  some  hope  for  him,  but  the  foreign 
officials  were  dead  and  didn't  know  it,  and 
here  was  really  the  foundation  of  all  our 
troubles. 

Mr.  Gallaher  listened  patiently  to  my  tale 
of  trouble  and  then  informed  me  that  he  had 
come  to  Paris  to  solve  these  vexatious  prob- 
lems confronting  American  tourists.  I  found 
that  he  had  established  an  extensive  bureau 
at  No.  11  Rue  D'Alger  where  the  American 
automobile  tourist  could  come  and  be  put 
right. 

I  discovered  that  this  gentleman  had  been 
spending  a  goodly  portion  of  his  time  the 
past  few  years  in  helping  fellow  members 
of  the  Automobile  Club  in  particular,  and 
Americans  in  general,  in  getting  straightened 
out  when  they  got  into  trouble  in  the  French 
capital,  and,  finally,  such  was  the  increasing 
demand  for  such  services,  he  had  decided  to 
establish  a  European  headquarters  in  Paris, 

40 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

with  branches  in  London  and  Stuttgardt. 
This  he  has  done,  and  he  is  prepared  to  do 
absolutely  everything  for  the  automobilist 
that  is  now  being  done  for  the  ordinary 
tourist  by  the  great  express  companies  and 
the  tourist  companies,  viz.,  shipping  their 
cars  from  America  to  any  point  in  Europe, 
supplying  chauffeurs,  obtaining  licenses  and 
insurance,  looking  after  repairs  and  spare 
parts,  and,  where  desired,  even  supplying 
both  car  and  man  to  meet  parties  anywhere 
in  England  or  on  the  continent.  My  satis- 
faction at  hearing  all  this  can  only  be  meas- 
ured by  the  thought  of  what  our  party  would 
have  escaped  had  we  known  of  my  friend 
Gallaher's  scheme  before  leaving  America. 

The  idea  of  being  able  to  turn  over  our 
worry,  annoyance,  and  expense  to  some  one 
who  would  attend  to  it  all  made  me  feel 
that  I  would  like  to  start  right  out  again,  if 
only  for  the  pleasure  of  seeing  some  one  else 
do  what  we,  only  a  few  weeks  ago,  had  looked 
upon  as  the  impossible  —  make  the  French- 
man hustle. 

I  should  state  that  this  bureau  is  the  first 
and  only  thing  of  the  kind  in  existence  and  it 
certainly  fills  a  great  need.  Mr.  Gallaher 
has  had  the  good  judgment  to  lay  this  new 

41 


department  out  on  the  broadest  lines.  Any 
American  is  welcome  to  its  services.  No 
matter  what  car  a  man  may  own  or  prefer  - 
his  automobile  creed  does  not  enter  into  the 
question.  If  the  traveler  is  an  American, 
that  is  sufficient. 

We  will  now  take  up  again  the  thread  of 
our  narrative  at  Havre: 

We  spent  the  day  and  night  at  the  famous 
Hotel  Tortoni,  where  we  were  very  comfort- 
able and  were  not  overcharged.  Because  of 
Regatta  Week,  Havre  was  gorgeously  deco- 
rated. For  unbroken  miles  the  long  streets, 
on  either  side,  were  hung  with  red,  yellow,  and 
blue  globes  containing  electric  lights.  Over 
the  streets,  in  arches  and  semi-circles,  at  close 
intervals,  had  been  arranged  the  same  artis- 
tic decorations,  while  the  tri-colored  flag  of 
France  was  in  splendid  evidence  everywhere. 
In  the  daytime  the  effect  was  beautiful;  at 
night  it  was  simply  a  dream  of  fairy-land. 
Long  did  we  three  strangers  walk  the  streets 
and  admire  the  brain  that  had  conceived  and 
the  hand  that  had  executed  this  marvelous 
display  of  dazzling  beauty. 

A  few  years  ago,  Andrew  Carnegie  wrote  a 
Christmas  letter  of  greeting  to  his  lifelong 
friend,  Thomas  A.  Edison,  the  Wizard  of 

42 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

Menlo  Park.  In  their  youth  they  had  been 
telegraph  boys  together.  At  the  close  of  Mr. 
Carnegie's  letter,  he  added:  "P.S.  The  net 
profits  from  my  five  steel  plants  last  year  were 
$35,000,000.  How  is  that  for  a  little  bum 
telegraph  operator?" 

As  I  looked  down  the  miles  of  streets  in 
Havre  that  night,  and  feasted  my  eyes  on  that 
wondrous  scene  of  beauty,  I  thought  that 
every  light  was  a  shining  token  of  Edison's 
genius,  and  then  I  thought  of  what  that  won- 
derfully eloquent  speaker,  Creswell  Mac- 
Laughlin,  from  Cornwall-on-the-Hudson,  had 
said  at  the  last  annual  banquet  of  the  Auto- 
mobile Club  of  America,  of  this  man,  Thomas 
A.  Edison,  whose  name  and  fame  are  known 
wherever  civilization  has  a  home --"He 
touches  a  pin,  and  the  solemn  night  bursts 
into  stars." 

Carnegie  and  Edison  —  "  little  bum  tele- 
graph operators."  Both  are  great  men;  both 
have  writ  high  on  the  wall  of  fame  their 
names,  but  I  doubt  not  Mr.  Carnegie  would 
be  the  first  to  say,  "I  would  not  attempt  to 
weigh  my  paltry  millions  against  the  undying 
achievements  that  Thomas  A.  Edison  will 
leave  to  the  ages." 

Before  leaving  Havre  we  visited   an   exhi- 

43 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

bition  of  commercial  vehicles,  numbering 
some  forty  or  more.  These  vehicles,  princi- 
pally trucks,  were  engaged  in  a  contest  cov- 
ering one  thousand  kilometers,  Havre  being 
one  of  the  points  en  route.  At  different  towns 
the  cars  were  halted  for  a  day  or  more,  in 
some  suitable  building,  and  an  entrance  fee 
of  one  franc  charged  for  admission.  The  cars 
were  covered  with  dust  and  mud,  and  showed 
plainly  that,  heavily  loaded,  they  had  under- 
gone some  severe  tests.  Speaking  generally, 
these  trucks  were  built  much  nearer  the  ground 
than  our  American  vehicles,  and,  apparently, 
much  more  care  had  been  observed  in  working 
out  the  details  of  construction.  I  think  the 
same  observation  could  be  made  in  regard 
to  the  pleasure  motor-cars  manufactured  in 
France  and  Germany.  But  that  —  a  la  Kip- 
ling, —  is  another  story,  and  one  which  will 
be  discussed  in  another  chapter. 

At  length  the  long  blue  Thursday  at  Tor- 
toni's  (the  home  of  the  Tortoni  biscuit)  came 
to  an  end.  After  a  good  night's  rest  and  a 
breakfast  of  ham  and  eggs,  at  nine  o'clock 
we  em-cared,  if  I  may  venture  to  coin  a  new 
word,  and  found  ourselves,  in  high  spirits, 
rolling  out  of  Havre  on  the  road  to  Paris. 
After  our  party  had  embarked  at  New  York, 

44 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

that  able  lawyer  and  good  sportsman,  Mr. 
Max  Pam,  came  aboard  with  an  armful  of 
maps  (Tarida  Cartes),  which  he  generously 
placed  at  our  disposal.  We  had  not  been  out 
of  Havre  half  an  hour  before  one  of  these 
maps  had  to  be  consulted.  The  first  town 
we  were  aiming  for  was  Harfleur.  The  road 
was  plainly  indicated,  but  so  rapid  had  been 
our  progress  that  before  we  had  appreciated 
the  fact  we  had  passed  through  the  town. 
What  was  our  dismay  and  confusion  when  we 
found,  in  response  to  our  inquiries  in  the  most 
horrible  French  (but  the  best  we  could  com- 
mand), the  peasants  kept  pointing  backward, 
along  the  route  we  had  come.  At  last  it 
dawned  upon  our  alleged  American  intellects 
that  we  had  already  passed  our  first  objective 
point,  and,  rather  shamefacedly,  we  turned 
our  motor-car  about  and  retraced  our  way 
into  the  town,  having  lost  a  full  half-hour 
through  our  error.  At  length  we  were  set 
right,  and  started  out,  with  a  straight  road  and 
an  open  country  ahead  of  us,  for  Rouen. 

Oh,  these  roads!  I  wish  I  might  make  the 
reader  view  the  scenes  and  taste  the  delights 
that  came  to  the  "Three  Men  in  a  Motor- 
Car"  on  that  never-to-be-forgotten  day.  The 
writer  has  spun,  up  to  the  limits  of  the  speed 

45 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

law,  over  the  beautiful  state  roads  of  Massa- 
chusetts, but  the  best  of  any  of  these  is  not 
to  be  compared  to  the  shining  roads  that 
slipped  away  in  uncounted  delightful  miles 
on  our  way  to  Rouen.  Imagine,  if  you  please, 
a  road  for  fifteen  miles  as  straight  as  a  gun 
barrel ;  so  smooth  that  you  could  play  billiards 
upon  it;  so  wide  that  four  cars  could  proceed 
abreast  (Have  autos  breasts  ?  Let  us  say 
a-radiator),  with  grades  of  negligible  degree, 
and  you  have  an  idea  of  the  highway  over 
which  we  were  traveling,  with  throttle  wide 
open,  muffler  cut  out,  and  on  top  speed.  Our 
good  car  seemed  to  catch,  with  us,  the  spirit 
of  it  all,  and  rejoice.  The  engine  purred  and 
sang  and  hummed  to  us  that  day  as  it  never 
had  before,  and  this  was  its  refrain:  "This  is 
-  glorious ! "  "  This  is  —  glorious ! "  "  This 
is  —  glorious!"  In  England,  the  roads  sug- 
gest to  one  a  band  of  narrow  white  ribbon. 
In  France,  the  top  dressing  is  frequently  a 
bright  yellow  sand,  and  the  roads  seem  a 
broad  golden  band,  fringed  on  either  side  by 
great  green  trees,  stretching  away  to  some 
unknown  paradise. 

August  here  is  the  month  of  harvest;  oats 
and  wheat  and  barley  were  being  cut,  for  the 
most  part  with  old-fashioned  scythes  and 

46 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

hand  sickles.  Such  abundant  crops  never 
had  I  seen  before.  The  enormous  shocks 
of  wheat  seemed  like  small  hay-stacks.  So 
thickly  did  they  cover  the  ground  that  one 
could  almost  leap  from  one  to  another.  Side 
by  side,  at  work  in  the  field  with  the  men, 
were  the  women;  then,  over  the  harvest  field 
came  the  children,  actually  picking  up  single 
straws  of  grain,  that  nothing  be  lost.  As  mile 
after  mile  of  these  matchlessly  rich  acres  flew 
by,  and  we  noted  everywhere  the  economy 
and  thrift  of  the  peasants,  we  thought  of 
Bismarck's  enormous  demand  for  indemnity 
at  the  close  of  the  Franco-Prussian  war,  and 
we  appreciated,  for  the  first  time,  how  it 
could  have  been  so  quickly  paid.  The  entire 
country,  from  the  seacoast  at  Havre  across  to 
Paris,  is  beautifully  rolling  and  undulating. 
The  variety  of  crops  raised  is  amazing.  In 
the  one-hundred-and-fifty-mile  drive  I  did  not 
see  (and  I  observed  closely)  a  single  idle  man 
or  woman,  and  rarely  was  there  a  child,  a 
horse,  an  ox,  or  a  dog  unemployed.  Is  it  any 
wonder  that  enormous  as  is  the  debt  of  France, 
it  is  owned  at  home  ?  The  interest  is  paid  at 
home  and  remains  at  home.  Is  it  any  wonder 
that  such  a  people,  characterized  by  such 
thrift,  industry,  and  economy,  living  in  a  land 

47 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

as  fertile  as  the  valley  of  the  Tigris  or  the  Nile, 
are  able  to  lend  Russia  and  other  governments 
billions  of  dollars  ?  The  interest  on  these  vast 
loans  comes  back  to  France  and  becomes  new 
and  permanent  capital,  which,  in  time,  brings 
in  more  interest,  and  thus  the  French  people 
are  piling  up  credit  upon  credit,  and  com- 
pounding interest  upon  interest.  Give  France 
another  century  of  peaceful  industry,  and  it 
may  be  that  the  financial  center  of  the  world 
will  have  shifted  from  London,  via  New  York, 
to  the  city  of  Paris. 

The  luncheon  hour  found  us  wheeling  into 
Rouen.  Thus  far  we  had  no  trouble,  with  the 
aid  of  our  Pam  maps  and  the  splendid  sign- 
boards, in  finding  our  way,  excepting  through 
the  towns,  where  we  were  all  at  sea,  and  where 
we  lost  time,  temper,  and  patience.  We  were 
all  anxious  to  reach  Paris  by  seven  P.M.  So 
much  so,  that,  after  a  hasty  luncheon,  we 
decided  not  to  attempt  to  visit  the  famous 
cathedral,  with  its  priceless  stained  glass. 
Going  out  of  Rouen,  we  overtook  a  bright- 
looking  young  man  on  a  bicycle.  We  inquired 
the  way,  and  found  that  he  could  speak  Eng- 
lish perfectly.  He  was  en  route  for  Paris, 
and  knew  every  inch  of  the  road,  so  we  sug- 
gested that  he  attach  his  bicycle  to  the  side 

48 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

of  our  car,  and  ride  with  us  as  guide  and 
interpreter.  This  he  agreed  to  with  alacrity, 
and,  from  that  moment,  our  troubles  were  at 
an  end.  We  had  an  excellent  guide,  and  one 
who  could  swear  most  effectively  at  the  cart 
drivers  who  demanded  more  than  their  share 
of  the  road.  On  and  on  we  flew,  through  an 
ever-changing  panorama  of  field  and  forest, 
and  sun-kissed  landscape,  to  the  city  of  Ver- 
non,  thence  to  Nantes,  and  on  up  the  Seine 
valley,  crossing  again  and  again  that  clear 
cool  running  stream;  through  St.  Germain, 
up  the  Avenue  Grand  Armee  to  the  Arc  de 
Triomphe,  and  then  down  that  matchless 
boulevard,  the  Avenue  Champs  Elysees. 

Our  rooms  had  been  engaged  for  us  at  the 
Elysee  Palace  Hotel,  and  from  this  rendezvous 
we  shall  proceed  to  see  and  do  Paris,  unless 
Paris  sees  and  "does  us  first." 


49 


CHAPTER  VI 

THE  automobile  is  a  comfortable  way  to  go 
about  Paris.  It  is  something  to  get  away 
from  dependence  on  the  fiacre  and  the  tax- 
imeter. Then,  too,  you  travel  much  faster 
and  consequently  see  much  more  in  a  day. 
The  Parisian  brand  of  days  are  all  too  short 
at  best. 

I  propose  to  give  some  impressions  about 
Paris  and  a  few  of  the  things  to  be  seen  which 
are  most  worth  while.  As  a  prelude,  I  desire 
to  suggest  that  the  old  and  hardened  traveler 
who  may  perchance  be  following  this  narrative 
would  better  skip  this  part  of  the  story.  He 
will  not  find  here  anything  new  to  him.  But 
to  those  of  my  readers  who  have  never  been 
in  Paris,  to  those  to  whom  there  is  still  "  some- 
thing new  under  the  sun,"  to  those  who  have, 
happily  for  themselves,  not  yet  lost  the  bright 
illusions  of  youth  and  hope,  to  these  I  have 
something  to  say. 

First,  then,  how  shall  I  write  about  the 
unwritable  Paris?  That  is  the  question 

50 


Beautiful  Sainte  Chapelle,  Twelfth-Century  Stained  Glass 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

which  confronts  me.     It  is  a  large  subject, 
an  overwhelming  subject. 

It  is  not  the  two  million  four  hundred  and 
fifty  thousand  people  who  constitute  its  in- 
habitants that  overwhelms  you;  it  is  not  the 
broad  avenues,  twelve  of  these  radiating  like 
the  arms  of  a  star  from  the  Arc  de  Triomphe 
-  although  they  are  magnificent  in  their 
width  and  most  beautiful  with  their  double 
rows  of  delightful  trees  on  either  side;  it 
is  not  the  stately  churches  and  cathedrals,  al- 
though they  represent  some  of  the  noblest 
specimens  of  architecture  the  world  contains; 
neither  is  it  the  many  lofty  columns  commem- 
orating heroic  death,  if  not  heroic  life;  it  is 
not  the  wealth  of  statuary  which  adorns  and 
beautifies  every  avenue  and  square  and  public 
place ;  it  is  not  the  palaces  which  like  Versailles 
startle  you  by  their  vastness  and  magnificence ; 
it  is  not  the  matchless  canvases  of  Rafael  and 
Da  Vinci  and  Murillo  and  Rembrandt  and 
Veronese,  although  they  stretch  away  in  un- 
counted miles;  it  is  not  the  great  feats  of 
engineering  skill,  some  of  which,  like  the 
cloud-piercing  Eiffel  tower,  are  unapproach- 
able; or  the  delightful  Bois  du  Boulogne  with 
its  endless  miles  of  perfect  drives  and  lovers' 
retreats,  or  the  presence  of  flowers  everywhere, 

51 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

from  the  poor  window-sill  of  the  peasant  to 
the  Garden  of  the  Tuileries;  it  is  not  the 
homes  of  splendor,  although  many  of  them 
are  more  than  oriental  in  their  luxurious 
appointments;  it  is  not  the  Bastille  Column 
with  its  associations  of  horror;  nor  is  it  the 
Great  Triumphal  Arch  before  which  every 
real  Parisian  glorifies  himself  and  France;  nor 
is  it  Mont  Martre  or  Valerien,  although  their 
heads  are  hoary  with  history;  it  cannot  be  the 
Cafe  Chantant  giving  as  it  does  a  glimpse  of 
the  semi-outdoor  life  of  the  Parisians;  it  can- 
not be  Pere  la  Chaise,  for  our  own  Greenwood 
and  Laurel  Hill  are  more  beautiful;  it  is  not 
the  catacombs  with  the  uncoflSned  bones  of 
more  than  four  million  mortals;  it  cannot  be 
the  famous  sewers  so  graphically  described 
by  Victor  Hugo  in  his  Les  Miserables ;  it  is 
not  the  fountains  of  Moliere  or  Innocents 
or  St.  Surplice,  although  they  are  beautiful 
enough  to  adorn  the  Gardens  of  Paradise;  it 
is  not  the  great  schools  of  learning  which  have 
contributed  so  much  to  the  sum  of  scientific 
knowledge  in  this  and  former  centuries;  it  is 
not  the  Gobelins  tapestry,  or  Sevres  china,  or 
the  Limoges  enamels,  each  in  its  way  the 
perfection  of  human  attainment;  it  is  not  the 
great  National  Library  with  its  three  million 

52 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

five  hundred  thousand  volumes  and  its  many 
manuscripts  beyond  price ;  it  is  not  the  French 
banks  which  rank  with  the  largest  and 
strongest  on  the  globe;  it  is  not  the  enormous 
magasins  which  like  the  Bon  Marche  and  the 
Louvre  cannot  be  found  outside  the  walls  of 
Paris ;  it  is  not  the  Champs  Elysees  which  from 
the  Arc  de  Triomphe  to  the  Obelisk  is  by 
common  consent  the  finest  avenue  in  the 
world;  it  is  not  the  Seine  or  the  great 
bridges  which  span  it  at  every  stone's  throw; 
neither  is  it  the  French  people  themselves, 
careless,  curious,  nervous,  inflammable  - 
always  dining,  going  to  a  meal,  or  just  com- 
ing from  one  -  -  what  then  is  it,  I  repeat, 
that  puzzles  you,  that  overwhelms  you,  as 
you  try  to  write  about  Paris  and  the  French 
people  ? 

As  the  bee  flits  from  flower  to  flower,  taking 
something  from  each,  so  must  we  appropriate 
something  of  the  subtle  spirit  of  each  of  all 
these  things,  treat  this  aggregate  by  the 
alchemy  of  our  own  imagination,  and  we  will 
have  the  Paris  which  the  American  knows 
and  sees  and  talks  about  on  shipboard  and 
at  home  in  the  States. 

But  alas,  it  is  far,  very  far  from  the  real 
Paris  of  the  Frenchman.  As  far  from  it  as 

53 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

a  chromo  from  a  Corot,  or  Yankee  Doodle 
from  the  Marseillaise. 

What  shall  we  add  to  the  superficial  Paris 
of  the  American  to  make  the  genuine  Paris  of 
the  Parisian? 

Watch  the  real  Frenchman  as  he  stands 
uncovered  before  the  tomb  of  Napoleon;  how 
the  muscles  around  his  lips  quiver  as  he  passes 
through  the  Place  de  la  Concorde,  and  stands 
before  the  forever  draped  monument  of  Stras- 
burg.  Watch  him  again  as  he  kneels  before 
the  high  altar  in  Notre  Dame;  follow  him  to 
St.  Denis  as  he  passes  with  reverent  step 
and  slow,  in  pale  silence,  before  the  graves 
of  French  kings  and  queens,  from  Dagobert 
to  Louis  XVI,  and  as  you  and  he  come 
from  those  dark  and  gloomy  sepulchral  vaults 
and  stand  once  more  in  the  sweet,  cool  air 
and  golden  sunlight,  you  look  on  his  face 
again  and  catch  a  glimpse  of  another  Paris, 
the  real  Paris  which  you  and  I  can  never 
know. 

To  the  stranger  visiting  Paris  the  first  thing 
to  rivet  his  attention  is  the  majestic  Arc  de 
Triomphe  de  1'Etoile.  It  is  located  two  miles 
from  the  Royal  Palais,  on  high  ground,  and 
marks  the  eastern  terminus  of  that  wonder- 
ful avenue,  Champs  Elysees.  It  is  called 

54 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

1'Etoile  from  being  the  center  from  which 
radiate  twelve  splendid  avenues.  The  plan 
of  the  new  Paris  was  executed  by  Baron 
Hausman  under  orders  from  Napoleon  III, 
whose  reign  extended  from  1851  to  1873. 
The  Arc  de  Triomphe  was  built  by  order  of 
Napoleon  I  in  1806,  but  really  not  completed 
until  1836  by  Louis  Philippe.  It  is  one  hun- 
dred and  sixty  feet  high,  one  hundred  and 
forty-six  feet  broad,  seventy-two  feet  in  depth, 
and  cost  the  enormous  sum  of  two  million 
dollars.  This  splendid  arch  is  most  imposing. 
It  commemorates  the  victories  of  Napoleon 
Bonaparte.  Many  groups  of  statuary  are 
carved  in  high  relief  and  enormous  propor- 
tions on  the  arch.  The  names  of  Napoleon's 
great  victories  are  spread  upon  a  roll  of  honor 
and  the  names  of  his  chief  officers  are  carved 
on  the  inner  side  of  the  arch.  My  first  view 
of  this  noble  structure  was  near  sunset.  We 
were  driving  our  motor-car  along  the  Champs 
Elysees  and,  chancing  to  look  back,  beheld  the 
golden  sunshine  pouring  through  the  hollow 
of  the  great  arch,  lending  to  it  a  charm  and 
dignity  indescribable.  The  broad  sides  of 
the  structure  shut  off  the  light  completely, 
save  where  it  poured  in  lavish  floods  through 
the  center.  We  stopped  our  car  and  gazed 

55 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

in  silence  on  this  spectacle  as  unique  as  it  was 
beautiful. 

It  needed  but  slight  prompting  of  the 
imagination  to  believe  that  this  radiant  gate- 
way opened  into  the  unseen  world  whose 
beauties  may  be  thought  but  never  told. 


56 


CHAPTER  VII 

ONE  thing  in  Paris  that  disturbed  our 
Western  ideas  was  the  terrific  speed  with 
which  three  fourths  of  the  motor-cars  are 
driven  about  the  city.  It  is  not  an  uncommon 
occurence  to  see  cars  driven  up  the  Champs 
Elysees  at  the  rate  of  twenty-five  miles  an 
hour,  and  occasionally,  under  the  very  nose 
of  the  police,  one  is  seen  going  at  the  rate  of 
from  thirty  to  thirty-five  miles  an  hour.  This 
speed  I  consider  reckless.  I  hazard  the  pre- 
diction that  some  day  a  prominent  man  will 
lose  his  life,  and  then  all  this  recklessness 
will  be  dealt  with  in  the  summary  manner 
that  is  characteristic  of  the  French  people. 

Not  only  is  Paris  itself,  but  the  suburbs  as 
well,  full  of  subjects  of  surpassing  interest  for 
the  touring  automobilist.  A  day  at  Versailles 
is  a  treat  to  every  lover  of  the  historical  and 
the  beautiful.  Particularly  is  this  true  if  one 
is  fortunate  enough  to  secure  the  services  of 
the  only  English  guide.  He  has  been  there, 
he  asserts,  twenty-five  years,  and  he  certainly 

57 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

looks  it.  He  has  never  been  seen  on  the 
premises  without  a  boutonniere.  His  father, 
when  the  young  man  was  only  twenty-one, 
left  him  a  fortune  of  seven  hundred  eighty 
thousand  francs  —  and  a  decided  tendency  to 
play  the  races.  The  reader  can  perhaps  sup- 
ply the  subsequent  chapters  of  the  young 
fellow's  career.  This  I  can  say  for  him  - 
he  is  an  able  and  instructive  guide,  and  tells 
one  a  lot  of  things  not  to  be  gotten  out  of  the 
guide-book. 

To  St.  Germain,  to  St.  Cloud,  and  to  St. 
Denis,  are  some  of  the  short  but  exceedingly 
interesting  tours  we  made,  but  which  I  cannot 
dwell  upon.  One  petty  annoyance  I  mention 
here.  When  an  automobile  first  enters  Paris 
through  a  city  gate,  the  essence  (gasolene)  is 
carefully  measured.  We  had  about  a  gallon 
and  a  half  in  our  tank,  and  we  were  mulcted 
to  the  tune  of  one  franc,  fifty  centimes  (thirty 
cents)  in  the  way  of  duty.  When  you  pass 
outward,  you  make  a  declaration  of  how  much 
gasolene  you  have  in  the  tank,  and  receive 
from  an  official  a  ticket.  Should  you  return 
with  a  greater  amount  than  when  you  go  out, 
you  are  taxed  on  the  difference. 

I  have  already  dwelt  briefly  upon  the  glories 
of  the  Arc  de  Triomphe,  which  marks  the 

58 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

eastern  terminus  of  the  Champs  Elysees.  The 
western  terminus  is  the  Place  de  la  Concorde, 
perhaps  the  most  impressive  spot  in  Europe 
-yes,  I  venture  to  say,  on  the  globe.  Near 
by  is  the  Garden  of  the  Tuileries. 

The  place  is  an  immense  open  square  sol- 
idly asphalted  throughout.  The  obelisk  of 
Luxor,  a  companion  monolith  to  Cleopatra's 
Needle,  in  Central  Park,  New  York,  marks, 
possibly,  the  most  tragic  spot  in  French  his- 
tory. And  what  a  number  of  historic  places 
one  can  see  from  this  point  —  the  Arc  de 
Triomphe,  the  Madeleine,  the  Palace  of  the 
Louvre,  the  House  of  the  Assembly,  and  other 
public  buildings.  Around  the  boundaries  of 
the  great  square,  and  facing  toward  the  center, 
are  groups  of  statuary,  heroic  figures  of  draped 
women  representing  the  chief  cities  of  France. 
That  representing  Strasburg,  the  capital  of 
Alsace  and  Lorraine,  is  forever  kept  draped  in 
the  emblems  of  mourning.  This  reminds  the 
passer-by  that  down  deep  in  the  French 
heart  is  constant  grief  over  the  loss  of  their 
provinces,  as  well  as  a  silent  but  unchangeable 
resolve  that  some  day  they  will  wrest  these 
provinces  from  the  iron  grasp  that  now  holds 
them. 

I    have    said   this   place   was   tragic   with 

59 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

historic  interest.  On  May  30,  1770,  at  a 
display  of  fireworks  to  celebrate  the  marriage 
of  the  Dauphin,  afterwards  Louis  XVI,  with 
Marie  Antoinette,  from  some  cause  never 
understood  a  panic  arose,  and  twelve  hundred 
persons  were  crushed  to  death,  while  two 
thousand  were  sadly  injured.  In  1793,  during 
the  Reign  of  Terror,  the  guillotine  was  erected 
on  the  spot  where  now  stands  the  peaceful 
obelisk.  Ill-fated  Louis  XVI  and  his  wife 
were  the  first  to  be  executed.  Between  Jan- 
uary 1793  and  May  1795  more  than  two 
thousand  heads  were  cut  off.  In  1871  the 
Prussian  army  was  encamped  in  this  place; 
here,  also,  much  bloody  work  was  done  by 
the  Versailles  army  in  attacking  the  com- 
munists in  1871.  A  banker  told  me  that  at 
that  time  he  had  actually  seen  blood  in 
streamlets  flowing  down  the  streets  of  Paris. 

Place  de  la  Concorde!  Place  of  peace,  of 
quiet,  of  concord,  —  and  yet  almost  every 
thought  of  it  is  associated  with  the  guillotine, 
and  blood,  and  war. 

On  a  perfect  night  our  quiet  car  scurries 
along  over  the  smooth  pavements,  as  the 
fountains  play  merrily  in  the  moonlight.  The 
solemn  past  rises  before  me.  Ah,  those  are 
fountains  of  human  blood  and  tears;  the  cabs 

60 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

have  turned  to  dead  carts,  slinking  away  in 
the  night  with  their  headless  victims ;  the  whirr 
of  the  fleet  motor-car  has  changed  to  the 
swish  of  the  quickly  falling  knife;  and  as  I 
ride  on,  the  whole  place  seems  swarming  with 
the  spirits  of  dead  men.  Oh,  call  it  not  a 
Place  of  Peace.  Call  it  rather  a  Place  of 
Blood,  of  Butchery,  of  Revenge,  of  Human 
Nature  Mad.  The  old  Obelisk  bears  witness 
that  in  Egyptian  lands,  in  the  morning  of 
history,  no  more  savage  things  were  done  than 
these  that  have  been  told. 

And  thus,  in  this  so-called  Place  of  Peace, 
let  this  cold  monolith  bear  silent  but  enduring 
testimony,  reproachful  testimony,  to  those 
dark  days  when  the  spot  upon  which  it  stands, 
and  shall  stand  through  coming  centuries, 
was  PLACE  DE  LA  MARS. 


61 


CHAPTER  VIII 

"BEYOND  the  Alps  lies  Italy,"  and  beyond 
the  Place  de  la  Concorde  lie  the  priceless 
treasures  of  the  Louvre.  In  former  years  I 
had  not  infrequently  visited  this  "Garden  of 
Delight,"  and  so  was  quite  prepared,  after 
nine  years'  interval,  to  again  enjoy  it.  No 
picture  of  a  living  artist  may  be  hung  in  the 
Louvre.  Here  one  need  not  waste  time  over 
second-rate  paintings.  The  works  of  the 
masters  engross  your  attention,  and  thrill  even 
the  blase  traveler  during  every  moment  he  is 
in  their  presence.  Side  by  side  hang  the 
deathless  works  of  Murillo,  of  Veronese  and 
Daubigny,  Jevyon  and  Rafael,  of  Van  Dyck 
and  a  score  of  others.  Many  of  these  pictures 
beggar  description,  and  I  shall  not  attempt 
the  impossible. 

It  was  gratifying  to  see  a  number  of  Amer- 
ican students  at  work  in  the  great  gallery. 
One  of  these,  Miss  Isabelle  Sheehan,  of  At- 
lanta, Georgia,  a  talented  young  painter,  and 
a  favorite  pupil  of  Bouguereau,  has  won 

62 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

marked  distinction,  even  in  Paris.  No  Amer- 
ican can  look  upon  her  latest  work,  a  copy  of 
Murillo's  famous  "Beggar  Boy,"  without  a 
feeling  of  pride  that  she  hails  from  his  native 
land. 

But  one  cannot  stay  always,  even  in  the 
Louvre,  though  he  may  have  a  great  hunger 
for  fine  paintings  and  for  beautiful  colors  laid 
on  canvas  by  master  hands  long  since  still. 
Then  one  turns  away,  filled  with  a  shrinking 
fear  that  this  may  be  the  last  time,  —  that  he 
may  never  be  able  to  come  again.  Perhaps 
you  can  understand  something  of  the  pain  of 
deliberately  taking  a  final  look,  and  the  wrench 
that  comes  to  one's  heartstrings  as  one  turns 
one's  back  upon  it  all. 

There  is  one  injunction  in  particular  that 
I  want  to  deliver  to  the  motorist  visiting  Paris 
for  the  first  time,  and  that  is,  no  matter  how 
eager  he  may  be  to  enjoy  each  and  every  one 
of  the  beautiful  runs  for  short  distances  out 
of  the  city,  let  him  not  leave  without  paying 
a  visit  to  the  Tomb  of  Napoleon.  Next  to 
the  Taj-Mahal,  it  is  without  doubt  the  most 
impressive  tomb  in  the  world.  As  I  gazed 
down  upon  the  last  resting-place  of  the  Great 
Emperor,  my  thoughts  traveled  backward 
through  many  years  to  a  little  country  school- 

63 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

house  in  the  village  of  Baylesstown,  Illinois, 
where,  as  a  barefoot  boy,  I  learned  my  first 
lesson  of  Napoleon's  sad  ending,  and  the 
words  came  to  me  again,  stalking  forth  like 
dusty  ghosts  out  of  the  long  ago: 

"Wild  was  the  night,  yet  a  wilder  night 

Hung  round  the  soldier's  pillow. 
In  his  bosom  there  waged  a  fiercer  fight 
Than  the  fight  on  the  wrathful  billow. 

"A  few  fond  mourners  were  kneeling  by, 
A  few  that  his  stern  heart  cherished; 
They  knew  by  his  glazed  and  unearthly  eye 
That  life  was  nearly  perished. 

"Again  Marengo's  field  was  won 

And  Jena's  bloody  battle, 
Again  the  world  was  overrun, 
Made  pale  at  his  cannon's  rattle. 

"He  died  at  the  close  of  that  darksome  day, 

A  day  that  shall  live  in  story, 
In  the  rocky  land  they  placed  his  clay 
And  left  him  alone  in  his  glory." 

But  Napoleon's  clay  was  not  left  alone  in  a 
hostile  land.  One  of  his  last  utterances  - 
the  only  sentence  written  on  his  tomb,  is, 
"I  desire  that  my  ashes  shall  repose  upon  the 
banks  of  the  Seine,  among  the  French  people 
I  have  loved  so  well." 

64 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

And  so,  at  last,  there  peacefully  sleeps  Na- 
poleon Bonaparte,  careless  of  the  sunshine  of 
praise  and  the  rain  of  criticism.  So  he  will 
sleep  until  the  resurrection  morn,  when  all 
tombs  shall  give  up  their  dead,  and  he  shall 
come  into  final  judgment,  and  be  judged  ac- 
cording to  the  deeds  done  in  the  body,  when 
each  one  shall  go  to  his  own  place. 

Of  course  we  ascended  the  Eiffel  tower  and 
sent  home  from  this  cloud-piercing  pile  a 
French  postal  card.  During  the  descent,  a 
curious  coincidence  gave  us  a  frightened  mo- 
ment. While  less  than  three  hundred  feet 
from  the  top,  our  elevator,  with  a  blood-curd- 
ling jar,  came  to  a  full  stop,  and,  exactly  at 
the  same  instant,  a  cannon  from  some  near-by 
point  was  fired,  indicating  the  noon-hour. 
The  shock  of  stopping  the  car  quickly,  and 
the  simultaneous  discharge  of  the  cannon, 
made  us  think  the  machinery  had  gone  wrong, 
and  that  we  were  all  on  our  way  to  that  land 
where  all  good  automobilists  ultimately  go. 

I  wish  I  might  devote  a  goodly  portion  of 
this  story  to  the  amusements  of  the  French 
people.  I  refer  to  the  hoi  polloi.  They  are 
the  most  excitable  and  the  most  easily  amused 
people  in  the  world.  Paris  abounds  in  little 
out-of-the-way  joints  for  the  amusement  of  the 

65 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

common  folk,  and,  incidentally,  the  profit  of 
the  proprietors.  One  place  will  illustrate:  it 
is  called  "Heaven  and  Hell."  A  dingy  cavern- 
ous room,  without  windows  and  gloomily 
lighted,  furnishes  the  setting;  the  ceilings  are 
low  and  the  walls  are  made  with  ragged  pro- 
jecting sides  of  papier-mache  in  imitation  of 
a  cavern.  Skeletons  are  half  hidden  in  the 
dark  recesses;  rubber  snakes,  with  gleaming 
eyes,  hang  from  the  ceiling ;  red  and  green  and 
blue  lights  in  succession  dimly  illuminate  the 
ghastly  interior,  and  all  of  this,  to  the  accom- 
paniment of  bad  music,  is  called  "Hell." 

"Heaven"  isn't  much  different,  or  much 
better.  The  room  is  more  cheerful,  however, 
and  there  are  no  cavernous  effects.  Three 
French  girls  in  tights  pose  in  living  pictures; 
the  music  is  livelier  and  louder  than  in  "Hell," 
and  this  is  "Heaven."  It  is  all  childish, 
simple,  silly,  and  ridiculous,  and  yet  throngs 
daily  crowd  the  place,  to  breathe  the  heavy, 
musty  air  and  drink  absinthe,  and  to  have  a 
Heaven  or  a  Hell  of  a  time  —  as  the  case 
may  be. 

In  this  connection  I  am  reminded  of  the 
story  of  the  Chicago  man  who  died  and  went 
to  the  Land  of  Spirits.  Arrived  there  he  was 
met  by  a  friend,  another  Chicago  man  who 

66 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

had  preceded  him.  The  older  resident  at 
once  offered  to  act  as  guide.  After  they  had 
visited  all  the  wonderful  temples  and  palaces, 
and  splendid  avenues,  and  enjoyed  the  entran- 
cing scenery  to  the  point  of  satiety,  the  new 
arrival  turned  to  his  friend  and  said,  "After 
all,  Heaven  isn't  much  different  from  Chicago, 
is  it?"  The  friend  looked  at  him  in  amaze- 
ment and  exclaimed,  "Heaven!  Why,  man, 
you  are  in  Hell!" 

The  Cafes  Chantants  are  still  a  feature  of 
Parisian  life.  From  four  o'clock  in  the  after- 
noon until  one  or  two  in  the  morning,  men  and 
women  throng  these  restaurants,  the  majority 
of  the  diners  sitting  at  small  tables  under  a 
great  awning  outside  the  building  on  the  side- 
walk. Wine  is  the  national  beverage,  and  he 
is  poor  indeed  who  cannot  afford  a  demi-bottle 
at  his  dinner. 

As  to  the  morality  of  the  Frenchman  — 
well,  that  is  a  mooted  question.  Is  it  not 
true  that  the  moral  view-point  of  all  Latin 
races  is  very  different  from  that  of  the  Anlgo- 
Saxon?  I  do  not  think  the  French  compre- 
hend the  idea  of  morality  as  do  the  people  of 
England  or  America.  I  am  informed  that 
not  infrequently  Frenchmen  of  standing  and 
prominence  keep  two  establishments  openly, 

67 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

one  for  the  wife,  and  another  for  the  mistress, 
the  two  being  equally  pretentious;  that  the 
wife,  driving  through  the  Bois,  meets  the  mis- 
tress driving  in  her  carriage.  This  condition  of 
affairs,  I  am  told,  is  recognized  and  accepted 
as  one  of  the  established  customs  of  the 
country  —  and  "what  are  you  going  to  do 
about  it,  anyway?" 

The  Frenchman  says:  "We  are  no  worse 
than  many  of  your  four  hundred  in  American 
life.  We  have  no  terrible  scandals  and  sepa- 
rations, as  do  you.  Your  men  are  immoral, 
secretly.  Call  us  immoral  if  you  choose,  what 
we  do  is  in  the  open." 

There  are  many  sayings  and  acts,  however, 
that  are  in  that  shadowy  borderland  between 
good  taste  and  morality.  In  this  realm  we  are 
far  away  and  beyond  the  French  in  their 
manners  and  customs.  The  French  are  cour- 
teous, polite  in  form  —  I  grant  you  that,  but 
this  politeness  is  a  veneer,  and  not  a  solid 
growth  such  as  can  only  spring  from  refined 
tastes  and  the  highest  and  purest  motives. 

Before  leaving  Paris,  I  was  interviewed  by 
Mr.  Dickin,  the  able  sporting  editor  of  the 
Herald,  which  splendid  paper  has  done  much 
for  automobiling  on  both  sides  the  Atlantic. 
I  frankly  confessed  to  Mr.  Dickin,  as  I  have 

68 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

repeatedly  stated  during  all  the  years  that 
America  has  been  building  automobiles,  that 
we  are  still  behind  the  French  in  the  character 
of  the  motor-cars  made  by  us.  This  inter- 
view, together  with  an  editorial  commenting 
on  the  subject,  was  cabled  to  the  New  York 
Herald.  The  Herald,  however,  inadvertently 
I  am  sure,  failed  to  give  the  reasons  why  I 
believed  America  would  yet  lead  the  world  in 
the  manufacture  of  automobiles,  as  she  has 
in  so  many  other  directions. 

The  best  known  and  most  successful  motor- 
car builders  in  France  are  making  their  motors 
with  American  machinery,  imported  from  the 
United  States.  Why,  then,  with  a  few  more 
lessons  learned  in  the  hard  school  of  expe- 
rience, should  we  not  be  able  to  make  motors 
quite  as  well  as  we  do  the  machinery  that  is 
used  to  make  the  French  cars  ? 

I  had  the  pleasure  of  meeting  in  Paris  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  R.  J.  Burdette,  and  their  son.  "  Bob  " 
Burdette,  of  Burlington  Hawkeye  fame,  I 
regard,  next  to  Mark  Twain,  the  prince  of 
American  humorists.  With  his  family,  Mr. 
Burdette  had  been  motoring  in  England.  He 
vowed  to  me  that  he  was  not  afraid  to  ride  in 
an  automobile,  even  though  the  pace  was 
rapid.  Then  he  frankly  admitted  that  it  took 

60 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

him  half  an  hour  every  night,  after  he  got 
his  shoes  off,  to  "uncurl  his  toes"  with  the 
assistance  of  his  hands.  Both  he  and  his 
wife,  after  an  engrossing  year's  work  at  Los 
Angeles,  California,  where  they  are  building 
a  large  and  beautiful  church,  and  where  they 
are  accomplishing  a  work  as  unique  as  it  is 
noble  and  uplifting,  felt  the  need  of  abso- 
lute quiet  and  rest.  They  went  to  Harrow- 
gate,  England,  and  got  what  they  were  looking 
for. 

The  Hawkeye  man  wanted  to  know  if  I 
had  ever  spent  a  night  in  the  quiet  town  of 
Salem/  New  Jersey.  I  pleaded  guilty,  and 
felt  sure  it  was  the  quietest  place  on  the  foot- 
stool, whereupon  Mr.  Burdette  solemnly  as- 
sured me  that  a  night  in  Salem  would  be  a 
riotous  debauch  after  a  night  at  Harrowgate. 
Illustrating  the  provincial  character  of  a  small 
banking-house  in  this  Rest  Cure  Village,  he 
said  that  a  friend  of  his  wanted  to  get  a  five 
pound  Bank  of  England  note  changed.  The 
banker  insisted  that  Mr.  Burdette's  friend 
endorse  the  note.  After  considerable  argu- 
ment the  man  reluctantly  consented  to  do  so. 
After  affixing  his  endorsement,  however,  he 
added  the  words  "without  recourse."  The 
local  banker  said,  "Why  do  you  sign  *  without 

70  , 


European  Villa 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

recourse'  ?"  The  foxy  and  prudent  endorser, 
without  even  the  suggestion  of  a  Yankee  smile, 
said:  "Why,  the  confounded  old  Bank  of  Eng- 
land might  'bust  up'  and  I  am  taking  no 
chances  on  getting  stuck." 


71 


CHAPTER  IX 

WE  left  Paris  on  Monday,  August  13,  and 
six  days  later  arrived  at  Lucerne,  having  made 
the  run  via  Basle,  Switzerland.  To  the  blase 
motorist,  and  they  are  not  uncommon,  this 
seems  a  lot  of  time  to  take  in  coming  so  short 
a  distance.  But  the  truth  is  we  traveled  by 
a  very  roundabout  route,  and  so  interesting 
were  the  towns  in  which  we  stopped  over 
night,  that  with  one  exception  it  was  always 
noon  before  we  continued  our  daily  journey. 

At  this  point  I  want  to  emphasize  the  fact 
that  the  temptation  to  the  American  motorist 
to  "keep  a-going"  and  to  neglect  sights  that 
it  is  little  less  than  a  crime  to  miss,  and  for 
which  he  will  revile  himself  later,  is  almost 
irresistible.  The  roads  are  so  good  that  the 
"fever  of  going"  possesses  one  in  a  terrible 
way.  It  is  a  constant  temptation,  therefore, 
to  pass  at  a  twenty-mile  clip  through  towns 
that  contain  cathedrals  centuries  old,  and 
works  of  art  that  are  beyond  all  price. 

Before  leaving  Paris  the  motorist,  if  he  has 

72 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

not  attended  to  the  matter  in  America,  should 
visit  the  office  of  the  American  Ambassador 
and  secure  a  passport.  He  may  never  need 
it,  but  like  the  man  from  Texas,  with  his  gun 
when  and  if  he  does  need  it,  he  needs  it  very 
badly.  The  receipt  received  from  the  Custom 
House  officials  at  Havre  for  our  deposit  of  five 
hundred  forty  francs  duty  (to  be  returned  to 
us  when  the  car  was  taken  from  the  country) 
embodied  a  description  of  our  car  and  the 
manufacturer's  number.  This  acted  for  us 
as  a  "Descriptif  Passavant"  and  was  a  most 
important  document  when  we  came  later  to 
cross  the  frontier  into  Germany. 

Many  Americans  buy  new  cars  in  Paris. 
Let  me  advise  them,  before  leaving  the  city, 
to  go  to  the  Custom  House,  and  secure,  for  a 
small  fee,  a  "Descriptif  Passavant."  It  will 
save  them  much  vexation  of  spirit  and  annoy- 
ing delays  later  on. 

Another  suggestion:  Unless  at  least  one  of 
your  party  speaks  French,  it  is  important  that 
you  have  a  chauffeur  who  speaks  both  French 
and  English.  We  were  fortunate  in  finding 
an  active  and  alert  young  man,  Alexander 
Perroux,  who  spoke  fairly  good  English  and 
excellent  French.  It  is  much  better,  in  ar- 
ranging the  chauffeur's  compensation,  that 

73 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

you  name  a  lump  sum  per  day  which  shall  be 
your  total  liability.  The  chauffeur  will  not 
then  be  in  a  position  to  live  extravagantly,  and 
charge  the  bill  to  you.  From  twenty  to  twenty- 
five  francs  per  day  is  about  the  average  wage 
paid  a  competent  chauffeur;  out  of  this  he 
pays  all  his  expenses,  including  his  lodging  and 
meals. 

Although  there  is  scarcely  a  village  in  France 
where  one  may  not  secure  essence  (gasolene), 
it  is  much  the  safer  plan  to  carry  an  extra  can, 
and  also  one  of  lubricating  oil,  on  the  car. 
Accidents  may  happen  by  which  a  pipe  is 
broken,  and  the  vital  oil  be  lost  midway  be- 
tween towns.  Again,  be  sure  to  have  a  good 
supply  of  small  change,  as  you  are  expected 
to  tip  everybody  who  does  you  the  slightest 
service.  Not  infrequently  we  gave  away 
franc  pieces  when  centimes  would  have  been 
more  appropriate,  simply  because  we  had  not 
the  smaller  change.  This  over-feeing  is  de- 
moralizing, and  makes  it  hard  on  the  travelers 
who  come  after  you. 

On  the  car  we  carried  only  dress  suit  cases 
strapped  to  the  running-boards,  our  trunks 
having  been  forwarded  by  freight,  to  our  hotel, 
a  week  in  advance.  One  must  not  fail  to 
telegraph  for  rooms  during  the  tourist  season, 

74 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

especially  at  the  principal  resorts,  otherwise 
you  may  have  to  sleep  in  your  car,  or  travel 
at  night,  neither  of  which  is  pleasant. 

Above  all  things,  the  automobilist  must 
learn  to  "travel  light."  With  a  cravenette 
automobile  suit  to  wear  while  riding,  a  dark 
suit  to  put  on  at  the  hotel  in  the  evening, 
changes  of  linen  and  underwear,  a  compact 
case  of  toilet  articles,  a  linen  duster,  a  water- 
proof coat,  and  a  pair  of  goggles,  you  are 
equipped  for  a  long  journey.  If  you  are  a 
devotee  of  the  weed,  either  learn  to  smoke  a 
pipe,  or  take  your  cigars  with  yoi;.  Those 
you  buy  in  France  are  simply  vile  beyond 
polite  language  to  describe. 

Here  I  will  anticipate  and  say  a  word 
about  our  expenses.  We  stopped  at  the 
best  hotels,  engaging  wherever  possible  three 
single  rooms  and  a  single  bathroom.  We 
had  the  best  of  everything  in  way  of  food, 
cigars,  etc.  At  the  end  of  our  journey  we 
found  our  expenses  had  been,  including 
chauffeurs,  wages,  and  gasolene,  twelve  dollars 
each  per  day.  This  we  considered  very 
reasonable. 

Thus  equipped,  on  leaving  Paris,  the  Three 
Men  in  a  Motor- Car,  at  the  date  and  hour 
aforesaid,  turned  the  bonnet  of  their  craft  up 

75 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

the  Champs  Elysees,  and  amidst  the  parting 
salutes  and  good  wishes  of  friends  started  on 
their  journey. 

It  is  surprising  how  bad  the  roads  are  out 
of  Paris.  They  are  as  bad  —  well,  let  me 
make  it  strong  —  almost  as  bad  as  they  are 
up  Seventh  Avenue,  going  out  of  New  York. 
Alexander,  our  chauffeur,  knew  every  foot  of 
the  way,  and  so  we  turned  and  twisted  and 
dodged  about  through  the  crooked,  narrow 
streets  of  St.  Germain,  and  up  the  long  hill  to 
Versailles. 

The  Three  Men  in  a  Motor-Car,  before 
leaving  Paris,  decided  on  their  respective 
duties.  "Uncle  John"  Hill,  the  owner  and 
driver  of  the  car,  was  unanimously  elected 
Chief  Engineer  and  Master  of  Transportation. 
"Uncle  Charley"  Kavanaugh  was  appointed 
Treasurer  and  General  Financier,  his  duties 
being  to  pay  all  bills  and  to  do  all  the  growling 
necessary  —  that  he  performed  his  duties 
faithfully  and  to  the  letter,  in  a  most  successful 
and  artistic  way,  subsequent  events  fully 
proved.  To  the  writer  of  this  narrative  were 
assigned  the  duties  of  Historian,  Advance  and 
Press  Agent,  and  Negotiator  Extraordinary 
and  Plenipotentiary. 

At  Versailles  we  were  bowling  along  under 

76 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

a  blissful  sun  when  the  Historian  discovered 
that  some  one  had  blundered,  and  that  we 
were  far  off  our  course  and  on  the  wrong  road, 
headed  in  a  direction  entirely  different  from 
that  in  which  we  desired  to  go. 

It  is  embarrassing  and  humiliating  to  con- 
fess that  we  had  been  so  stupid  as  to  start  out 
southwest  of  Paris,  when  we  wanted  to  go 
exactly  east  toward  Coulommiers,  Sizanne,  St. 
Dizier,  and  Nancy.  We  discussed  the  advis- 
ability of  going  back  to  the  city  and  starting 
all  over  again  the  next  day,  but  were  not  quite 
able  to  persuade  ourselves  to  face  the  jeers 
and  jokes  of  our  friends  there,  and  so  deter- 
mined to  make  a  detour  around  the  city,  and 
work  back  and  up  to  our  original  route. 
Therefore  we  drove  on. 

A  few  miles  beyond  Versailles,  going  toward 
Dourdan,  we  took  some  of  the  longest  and 
toughest  hills  any  of  us  had  ever  negotiated  in 
a  motor-car,  but  our  little  French  car  did 
nobly;  she  plowed  bravely  upward,  with  a 
rhythmic  hum  of  the  motor  that  was  as  music 
to  our  ears. 

We  arrived  at  Dourdan  hot  and  hungry. 
At  the  Hotel  de  Lyon  we  had  a  very  fair 
luncheon,  with  a  bottle  of  native  wine  just  one 
degree  more  palatable  than  American  vinegar. 

77 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

The  landlord  was  a  character.  As  we  were 
about  ready  to  go  out  and  do  the  town,  he 
drove  up  in  a  small  delivery  wagon.  He  was 
so  big  and  jolly  and  fat  that  he  seemed  to 
fill  up  the  entire  front  seat,  and,  like  a  fat 
jelly-fish,  some  parts  of  him  ran  over  the  sides 
of  the  cart.  Immediately  I  requested  the 
distinguished  favor  of  being  permitted  to  take 
a  kodak  of  his  royal  highness  (I  had  forgotten 
to  mention  the  important  fact  that  he  is  a 
Prince),  to  which  he  assented,  taking  a  seat 
in  our  motor-car  beside  "Uncle  John."  Our 
chief  engineer  is  no  dwarf,  weighing  one  hun- 
dred ninety  good  American  pounds,  but  he 
looked  like  an  undersized  kid  beside  the  three 
hundred  fifty  pounds  of  his  royal  highness, 
who  seemed  greatly  amused  at  the  picture- 
taking  performance. 

There  was  an  old  chateau  at  Dourdan,  with 
a  splendid  high  wall  and  a  deep  business-like 
looking  moat  inside,  in  which  are  now  growing 
peaceful  apple  trees.  On  knocking  for  ad- 
mittance, we  were  informed  that  the  chateau 
could  not  be  inspected,  as  the  "Proprietor" 
was  then  living  on  the  premises.  We  con- 
soled ourselves,  however,  by  taking  surrep- 
titious peeps  over  the  head  of  the  pretty 
French  maid  who  said  us  "nay,"  and  con- 

78 


His  Royal  Highness 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

eluded  that  it  wasn't  much  of  a  chateau  any- 
way. 

If  there  was  any  lingering  trace  of  disap- 
pointment, it  was  dissipated  as  we  entered 
the  old  church  of  Dourdan,  begun  in  the 
twelfth  century  and  completed  in  the  seven- 
teenth. Going  from  the  hot  atmosphere  into 
its  cool  depths  was  alone  refreshing;  but  when 
we  began  to  take  in  its  beautiful  columns,  its 
lofty  ceiling,  its  splendid  arches,  its  magnificent 
organ,  and,  best  of  all,  its  wealth  of  stained- 
glass  windows,  we  were  satisfied. 

Oh,  those  windows!  The  sunlight  of  that 
peaceful  afternoon  fell  through  them  as  though 
a  thousand  rainbows  had  been  taken  captive, 
and  were  being  poured  out  of  the  hand  of  a 
great  angel  into  the  sacred  place.  Two 
thoughts  will  always  remain  with  me  —  the 
matchless  beauty  of  it,  and  the  pain  of  leaving 
it. 

When  we  took  our  seats  again,  and  Alex- 
ander turned  the  engine  over,  the  day  was 
far  spent.  Fontainebleau  was  our  objective 
point,  and  it  was  still  forty  miles  away.  How 
the  motor  sang  to  us  on  that  delightful  ride 
in  the  late  afternoon.  The  country  we  were 
traveling  was  as  beautiful  as  the  most  per- 
fectly kept  garden,  while  the  roads  were  so 

79 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

fine  that  I  felt  inclined  to  get  out  and  smooth 
and  pat  them  with  my  hand  as  I  would  the 
back  and  head  of  my  pet  collie.  At  seven 
o'clock,  the  deep  green  forests  of  famous 
Fontainebleau  were  in  sight,  and  fifteen 
minutes  later  we  were  at  the  Hotel  of  the 
Black  Eagle. 

Fontainebleau  is  a  town  of  eleven  thousand 
people.  Its  chief  attractions  are  the  neigh- 
boring forests,  and  the  Palace,  not  forgetting 
the  splendid  monument  in  the  square  to  Rosa 
Bonheur,  who  was  born  near  this  place. 

Our  odometer  showed  that  we  had  come 
seventy-seven  miles,  but  our  guide-book  told 
us  we  were  but  thirty-five  miles  from  Paris. 

I  shall  not  undertake  to  describe  the  treas- 
ures of  the  Palace,  which  we  visited  next 
morning.  The  paintings,  the  tapestries,  the 
rare  china,  the  splendid  ceilings,  the  apart- 
ments of  Napoleon  and  Marie  Antoinette,  the 
table  at  which  Napoleon  signed  his  abdication 
-  these  and  many  other  like  treasures  present 
food  for  reflection  so  fascinating  that  they 
detain  many  tourists  days,  and  even  weeks, 
in  this  historic  place. 

Tuesday  morning  dawned  bright  and  fair. 
A  good  breakfast  at  the  Black  Eagle,  a  bad 
cigar  which  cost  two  francs,  a  hurried  visit  to 

80 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

the  Palace,  and  at  twelve  o'clock  we  were 
again  out  on  those  dream-roads,  headed  for 
Sens.  Blessed  is  that  country,  it  is  said, 
which  has  no  history;  so,  blessed  be  the  motor 
voyagers  who  have  no  heart-thrilling  expe- 
riences to  relate. 

From  Fontainebleau  to  Sens  is  fifty-six 
miles  —  good  American  miles,  not  little 
skimpy  kilometers.  From  Sens  to  Troyes, 
our  stopping-place  for  the  night,  is  forty  miles, 
making  the  distance  traveled  for  the  after- 
noon ninety-six  miles.  The  country  through 
which  we  passed  was  level,  occasionally  rolling, 
and  wonderfully  fertile  —  the  garnered  fields 
of  wheat  stretching  away  to  the  horizon.  In 
some  localities  the  wheat  had  been  gathered 
into  stacks,  —  veritable  artistic  cone-shaped 
works  of  art,  that  delighted  the  eye  of  the 
Historian,  who  had  been  reared  on  an  Illinois 
farm,  and  fully  appreciated  the  difficulty  of 
combining  the  artistic  with  the  utilitarian  in 
stacking  wheat.  Along  the  perfect  highway, 
on  either  side,  stretched  unending  rows  of  tall 
shade  trees;  for  unmeasured  miles  the  clean, 
smooth,  white  road  extended  ahead,  as  straight 
as  a  sunbeam.  How  our  engine  laughed  in  glee 
to  us  on  that  perfect  day;  how  it  seemed 
to  be  a  thing  alive,  and  to  enter  into  the  spirit 

81 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

of  our  enjoyment;  how  our  car  seemed  to  seize 
the  on-rushing  miles  in  her  teeth,  and  fling 
them  behind  her  in  scorn,  like  a  terrier  a 
despised  rat. 

Too  soon  Troyes  came  in  sight,  and  we 
were  in  front  of  our  hotel,  bargaining  with  the 
manager  for  "three  rooms  and  a  bath."  And 
this  reminds  me  that  the  automobilist  must 
always  make  his  bargain  before  taking  any  of 
his  luggage  from  the  car.  He  can  arrange 
much  better  terms,  because  the  landlord  un- 
derstands that  although  the  traveler  may 
have  telegraphed  for  rooms,  the  victim  may 
go  to  another  hotel  if  the  price  asked  is  ex- 
orbitant. 

At  Troyes  we  counted  ourselves  fortunate 
in  meeting  fellow  tourists,  —  Mr.  S.  F.  Ra- 
phael and  his  charming  wife.  They  were 
traveling  from  the  Black  Forest  of  Germany 
to  Paris,  in  a  twenty-four  horse-power  French 
car.  Mr.  Raphael  is  a  fine  type  of  the  cour- 
teous English  gentleman  and  sportsman.  He 
ascertained  that  we  were  not  properly  equipped 
with  route  books  and  maps,  and  at  once 
handed  his  over  to  us,  insisting  that  we  accept 
them.  They  proved  to  be  most  valuable,  and 
his  courtesy  to  his  American  cousins  will  never 
be  forgotten.  Many  times  later  we  had 

82 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

occasion  to  bless  him  for  his  kind  thought  of 
our  needs. 

The  cathedral  at  Troyes  is  a  beautiful  ex- 
ample of  architecture.  With  the  exception  of 
the  stained-glass  windows  in  the  matchless  St. 
Chapelle  in  Paris,  I  think  the  windows  in 
Troyes  Cathedral  were  the  most  beautiful  I  had 
thus  far  seen.  You  look  at  them,  and  leave 
them,  and  want  to  look  and  look  again,  as 
long  as  daylight  lasts. 

The  next  morning  when  we  arose  we  began 
to  realize  that  Paris  is  a  city  difficult  for  an 
American  to  get  away  from.  Here  we  were 
at  noon,  the  third  day  out;  we  had  traveled 
one  hundred  seventy-three  miles  and  found 
ourselves  still  within  three  hours'  easy  ride  of 
the  French  capital. 

We  left  Troyes  at  noon  on  Wednesday,  and 
drove  to  Chaumont  for  luncheon  (fifty-five 
miles).  Our  next  large  town  was  Neufchatel, 
and  thence  to  the  old  city  of  Nancy.  The 
ride  for  the  afternoon  was  one  hundred  twenty- 
four  miles,  through  a  charming  farming 
country.  We  did  not  admire  the  piles  of 
manure  flanking  the  front  of  every  house  in 
the  villages  —  but  we  will  let  that  pass.  It  is 
simply  a  little  way  of  theirs. 

One  hundred  and  twenty-four  miles  in  a 

83 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

motor-car  in  an  afternoon  means  a  fine  appe- 
tite for  dinner  and  a  longing  for  a  good  bed. 
At  Nancy  we  found  both.  By  nine  o'clock 
next  morning  we  were  ready  to  "do"  Nancy, 
and  while  Alexander  was  fixing  up  the  car, 
we  called  a  fiacre  and  sallied  forth.  I  wish  I 
might  tell  all  about  our  experiences  in  Nancy, 
but  a  few  must  suffice. 

The  Carnot  monument,  the  fine  city  gates, 
another  old  cathedral  with  fine  clustered  col- 
umns, and  an  old  Friars'  School,  were  the 
objects  of  interest  to  which  we  devoted  the 
forenoon. 

In  the  old  school  referred  to  was  a  lock  of 
the  great  Napoleon's  hair.  It  was  in  color  a 
rich  brown  and  seemed  as  soft  and  silky  in 
texture  as  that  of  a  little  schoolgirl.  Here, 
too,  we  saw  the  old  rusty  leg  irons  and  various 
instruments  of  torture  which  were  used  a  little 
while  ago  to  persuade  people  to  be  good  - 
which  meant,  "Think  as  I  think  or  I  will 
brand  you  with  hot  irons,  twist  your  limbs 
out  of  shape,  gouge  out  your  eyes  and  then 
you  will  be  damned." 

As  I  looked  on  these  instruments  of  cruelty, 
and  the  bloody  axe  and  block,  I  heard  the 
dying  groans  of  the  tortured  and  suffering. 
I  shuddered  and  thought  that  Guizot  was 

84 


I  THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

quite  right  in  his  History  of  Civilization  when 
he  declared  that  it  took  men  a  thousand  years 
to  learn  that  physical  force  had  no  place  in 
the  domain  of  conscience. 

As  we  boarded  our  car  to  leave  Nancy  we 
noticed  that  the  big  burly  brigand-like  porter 
who  had  brought  down  our  hand-luggage 
did  not  look  happy.  The  treasurer,  "Uncle 
Charley,"  had  tipped  everybody  in  sight;  his 
hand  had  gone  to  and  from  his  pocket  until 
the  muscles  controlling  it  were  a-weary,  and 
still  the  big  porter  looked  ugly.  Finally,  he 
said,  "More  money;  more  money." 

Then  Uncle  Charley  was  sublime  and  arose 
to  the  full  height  of  the  occasion.  He  got  up 
slowly  and  solemnly  in  the  car  as  though  he 
were  about  to  perform  a  great  function.  He 
took  off  his  coat,  folded  it  carefully  and  laid 
it  on  the  seat  of  the  tonneau;  then  he  laid  his 
pocket-book  on  that;  last  of  all  he  laid  on 
the  altar  his  watch  and  chain,  and  in  a  silence 
that  was  befitting  the  occasion,  with  a  pro- 
found bow,  offered  all  to  his  royal  nibs  of  the 
scowling  countenance.  There  was  a  moment 
of  tense  silence,  then  an  explosion  of  laughter 
from  the  by-standers,  under  the  shadow  of 
which  the  robber  slunk  away  and  we  made 
our  escape. 

85 


CHAPTER  X 

THE  last  chapter  of  our  story  left  us  fleeing 
from  fresh  memories  of  the  rack  and  branding 
irons,  and  other  instruments  of  torture,  in  the 
old  Friars'  School  at  Nancy,  and  the  immediate 
presence  of  the  modern  highwayman  in  the 
guise  of  the  head-porter  at  the  nameless  hotel 
from  which  we  congratulated  ourselves  on 
having  escaped  with  our  clothes,  watches,  and 
a  few  francs,  inadvertently,  doubtless,  over- 
looked by  the  petty  despoilers  of  travelers  - 
a  special  fondness  being  had  for  the  English 
and  American  brands. 

It  was  nearly  noon  before  we  got  away  from 
Nancy,  noted  for  the  manufacture  of  various 
fabrics,  as  well  as  for  the  toothsome  macaroon. 

Our  road  pointed  straight  away  southeast 
and  our  destination  was  the  old  town  of  St. 
Die.  Over  perfect  roads,  and  under  perfect 
skies,  with  our  motor  keeping  time  to  happy 
heart-beats,  we  ascended  the  valley  of  the 
Meurthe.  Approaching  St.  Nicholas-de-Pont 
from  the  west,  we  saw,  looming  before  us, 

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THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

the  lofty  outlines  of  the  church  of  that  name, 
and  right  well  were  we  repaid  for  our  visit 
thereto. 

About  the  time  that  Columbus  was  engaged 
in  discovering  America,  the  foundations  of  this 
noble  edifice  were  laid.  The  high,  double 
towers,  the  vaulted  and  lofty  ceilings,  the 
splendid  clustered  columns  and  the  fine  organ, 
are  its  most  impressive  features.  I  remember, 
too,  an  enormous  cross  probably  fifteen  feet 
long,  on  the  interior  above  the  main  entrance, 
with  a  figure  of  the  Saviour  hanging  thereon. 
It  was  all  gruesome  and  terrible,  and  I  fail  to 
understand  how  such  portrayals  of  suffering 
are  conducive  to  the  devotional  spirit.  I  re- 
member, also,  a  contrasting  picture  in  this 
church  that  will  abide  in  my  memory.  Two 
tiny,  poorly  clad  little  girls,  with  sweet,  roguish 
faces,  which  smile  upon  me  still,  were  kneeling 
on  a  hard,  wooden,  cushionless  stool,  evidently 
set  to  the  task  of  committing  to  memory  a 
long  prayer,  printed  on  a  big  card-board,  in 
honor  of  some  saint  or  other.  It  came  to  me 
most  forcibly,  that  that  good  old  saint,  if  he 
could  be  consulted  in  the  matter,  would  much 
prefer  to  have  had  those  dear  children  playing 
under  the  blue  sky  and  in  the  golden  sunshine 
of  that  perfect  day,  rather  than  cooped  up  in 

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THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

a   solemn   cathedral,    saying   prayers   in   his 
honor,  or  in  that  of  any  one  else. 

I  shall  not  soon  forget  the  time  we  had  in 
getting  out  of  this  old  town.  The  narrow, 
crooked  streets  were  fine  old  labyrinths,  seem- 
ingly built  for  the  express  purpose  of  stirring 
up  the  righteous  souls  of  motorists  who  had 
lingered  too  long  enjoying  the  local  sights, 
and  were  anxious  to  make  up  their  schedule. 
Alexander  dropped  nimbly  off  the  car  at  every 
street  corner,  and  held  long  and  animated 
converse  with  numerous  natives,  inquiring  the 
route  to  Luneville.  After  much  cap-touching, 
"Pardons,"  "Mercis,"  and  gesticulations,  such 
as  would  have  aroused  the  envy  of  a  panto- 
mimist,  Alexander  would  pop  back  on  his 
perch,  and  in  broken  English  tell  us  we  must 
turn  around  and  go  back  four  streets,  turn  to 
the  left,  and  go  two  blocks  and  cross  a  bridge, 
and  "then  we  would  be  all  right."  Notwith- 
standing a  multiplication  of  counsels,  we, 
oftener  than  otherwise,  got  all  wrong,  and  had 
to  return  from  some  country  road  and  start 
afresh.  This  exasperating  experience  was  re- 
peated until  we  were  fairly  desperate.  Hie 
fabula  docet:  The  motorist,  on  entering  a 
strange  town,  would  do  well  to  pick  up  some 
bright  small  boy  to  show  him  through  the 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

place;  then  give  the  lad  a  franc,  and  send 
him  back  by  tram.  This  method  accomplishes 
not  only  the  original  purpose  of  getting  you 
quickly  through  the  town,  but  makes  that 
boy  and  his  family  friends  of  motorists  always 
thereafter. 

At  length  we  were  through  the  St.  Nicholas 
town,  and  reeling  off  the  miles  to  Luneville. 
This  latter  place  contains  a  fine  old  church, 
St.  Jacques,  erected  by  Boffrand,  a  pupil  of 
Mansart,  in  1730.  To  be  entirely  truthful, 
we  did  not  stop,  but  hastened  on  through 
Baccarat  (containing  the  largest  glass-works 
in  France  —  but  not  open  to  visitors),  and 
Raon-1'Etape,  to  St.  Die. 

This  is  a  splendid  town  of  twenty-two  thou- 
sand inhabitants,  on  the  left  bank  of  the  river 
Meurthe,  surrounded  by  picturesque  hills  or 
small  mountains.  The  place  is  named  for  a 
pious  old  monk,  St.  Diendonne,  who  as  early 
as  the  sixth  century  (1350  years  before  our 
coming)  founded  a  monastery  there.  Mr. 
Stanislau  Lesczinski  (please  get  this  name 
right,  because  he  seems  to  have  been  a  big 
gun  in  his  day)  wa,s  Duke  of  Lorraine,  and 
built  the  western  part  of  the  city  only  a  little 
while  ago  (1757)  as  time  is  reckoned  in  these 
towns  hoary  with  history.  The  Rue  Stanis- 

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THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

lau  is  the  principal  street  of  the  new  quar- 
ter. 

The  cathedral  is  built  of  dingy  sandstone 
and  is  much  older  than  it  is  imposing.  It 
is  partly  Gothic  and  partly  Romanesque  in 
architecture;  part  of  it  was  built  just  one  thou- 
sand years  ago.  Walking  up  and  down  in  the 
cloister  was  a  handsome  black-gowned  young 
priest  intoning  a  prayer  which,  in  that  very 
place,  thirty  generations  of  priests  had  said, 
before  him. 

The  Church  of  Rome  seems  indeed  founded 
on  a  rock.  It  is  serving  a  great  mission  of 
usefulness  in  the  world.  May  the  Gates  of 
Hell  never  prevail  against  it. 

While  passing  along  the  street,  my  attention 
was  attracted  to  an  artistic  shop  window. 
There  I  saw  a  beautiful  marble  copy  of  a 
well-known  French  artist's  allegorical  figure, 
entitled  "Candeur."  I  at  once  had  a  great 
longing  for  it.  The  price  was  most  reason- 
able, but  I  did  not  see  how  it  was  possible  to 
bring  it  home  without  great  danger  of  break- 
ing. Expressing  these  fears  to  the  owner,  he 
immediately  said,  "You  are  an  American 
traveler.  I  will  trust  you.  I  will  deliver  it  at 
your  home,  and  when  it  is  there  safely,  send 
me  your  check."  I  mention  this  incident 

90 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

for  the  benefit  of  others  who  would  gladly 
purchase  pictures  or  works  of  art  abroad 
which  particularly  appeal  to  them,  if  they 
could  be  relieved  of  the  difficulty  and  risk  of 
taking  them  home. 

Friday  morning,  August  18,  found  us,  after 
many  polite  adieus  from  the  landlord  of  the 
Post  Hotel,  and  from  every  attache  who  had 
been  tipped,  en  route  to  Basle,  Switzerland. 
We  started  out  whistling,  to  keep  up  our 
courage,  for  we  felt  in  our  very  bones  that 
trouble  was  brewing,  and  that  there  were 
"lions  in  the  way."  We  had  heard  dreadful 
tales  of  tedious  delays,  the  searching  of  bag- 
gage, etc.,  in  crossing  the  frontiers,  —  first 
into  Germany,  then  into  Switzerland.  Then, 
too,  we  had  the  Vosges  Mountains  to  cross. 
Our  Master  of  Transportation  is  one  of  that 
sturdy  type  of  Americans  who,  when  there  is 
anything  difficult  to  be  done,  believes  in  getting 
at  it  quickly  and  having  it  over  with,  and  so 
we  were  off  early. 

The  day  was  fine,  and  our  car  was  singing 
to  us  the  old  song  we  loved  to  hear.  Beyond 
Wisembach  we  began  the  ascent  of  the  longest 
climb  I  ever  saw  negotiated  by  an  automobile. 
At  first  the  ascent  was  gradual,  but  soon  we 
had  to  drop  to  our  hill-climbing  gear.  Up, 

91 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

up,  up,  our  brave  engine  carried  us,  without 
a  moan  or  a  murmur.  The  road-bed  was 
perfect,  and  this  was  well,  for  we  drove  along 
the  edge  of  precipices  which  drop  straight 
downward  for  hundreds  of  feet.  Glad  indeed, 
and  thankful,  were  we  Three  Men  in  a  Motor- 
Car,  that  on  that  long  climb  to  the  summit  of 
the  Vosges  we  met  with  not  a  single  horse- 
drawn  vehicle.  During  the  ascent,  the  views 
back  into  the  valley  and  beyond,  into  retreat- 
ing France,  with  its  variegated  landscape  of 
ripening  field  and  dark  green  forest  bathed 
in  the  warm  summer  sun,  formed  pictures  in 
our  memories  that  time  can  never  efface. 

In  the  language  of  that  clever  writer,  Mrs. 
F.  C.  Dumont,  "the  place  is  a  fit  setting  for 
a  dream-life  and  the  spirit  of  content  broods 
over  it.  To  go  in  a  motor-car  up  these 
grades  is  like  an  apotheosis  in  a  heavenly 
chariot." 

The  descent  into  the  valley,  with  engine  cut 
out  and  brakes  set,  was  even  more  "skeery" 
and  hazardous  than  had  been  the  upward 
climb,  but  at  length  we  arrived  safely  at  St. 
Marie.  From  there,  a  short  run  brought  us 
to  the  German  frontier  at  Rappoltsweiler. 
At  this  point,  a  fine-looking  German  officer 
halted  us.  We  pulled  out  to  one  side  of  the 

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THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

road,  gave  the  military  salute  (which  pleased 
him),  stopped  our  engine,  and  produced  our 
"  Descriptif  Passavant."  This  the  officer  care- 
fully examined,  asked  a  few  simple  questions, 
and  seemed  satisfied.  A  paper  was  made  out, 
embodying  a  receipt,  and  handed  to  our  Mas- 
ter of  Transportation,  on  payment  of  one 
hundred  twenty  francs.  The  officer  then  at- 
tached a  lead  seal  (the  impression  on  which 
was  made  by  the  antiquated  method  of  a  die 
and  a  wooden  mallet)  to  the  front  spring  of 
our  car,  and  told  us  we  were  at  liberty  to 
depart,  the  whole  performance  having  taken 
less  than  twenty  minutes.  With  a  friendly 
warning  not  to  go  "too  quickly,"  the  officer 
bade  us  good-day,  and  we  were  off  on  German 
soil. 

As  we  proceeded,  we  noticed  that  the  signs 
over  the  shop  doors  were  now  written  in  Ger- 
man. The  harsh  guttural  of  the  Teutonic 
soon  fell  upon  our  ears,  and  what,  to  us,  was 
most  strongly  emphasized,  the  roads  were  not 
nearly  so  good  as  those  in  France.  At  Colmar 
we  had  an  excellent  lunch,  and  found  some 
real  Henry  Clay  cigars  that  certainly  looked 
good  to  us,  and  tasted  better.  From  Colmar 
we  had  a  delightful  ride  to  Mulhausen,  thence 
on  to  the  Swiss  frontier  near  Basle. 

93 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

At  the  border,  just  out  of  Basle,  we  pre- 
sented our  documents  at  the  German  Custom 
House.  The  officials  carefully  examined  them, 
removed  the  seal  from  our  car  and  returned  to 
us  the  amount  of  duty  we  had  deposited  at 
Rappoltsweiler.  Less  than  a  hundred  feet 
away  stood  the  Swiss  Custom  House,  and  the 
modus  operandi  of  getting  through  it  was  the 
same  as  that  on  passing  the  German  frontier, 
already  described. 

Thus,  in  one  day,  we  had  climbed  the 
Vosges  Mountains,  traveled  eighty-two  miles, 
enjoyed  a  charming  variety  of  scenery,  passed 
through  two  custom  houses,  and  driven  our 
car  under  the  protection  of  three  flags,  without 
the  slightest  friction  or  discomfort.  Soon  we 
were  enjoying  a  bath  at  Basle,  and  after  a  fine 
dinner  and  a  good  cigar  retired  to  dream  of 
delights  that  were  yet  to  come. 


94 


CHAPTER  XI 

STANDING  on  Swiss  soil,  one  seems  to  get 
an  uplift  of  soul,  which  causes  him  to  think 
more  highly  of  his  race.  All  the  history  and 
traditions  of  the  Swiss  people ;  her  pure  moun- 
tain air;  her  rugged  fastnesses;  her  lofty  peaks; 
her  sturdy  citizenship;  her  lakes  and  rushing 
streams;  her  avalanches  and  glaciers;  in  short, 
all  the  forces  of  heredity  and  nature  in  her 
wildest  settings,  have  combined  to  produce 
an  intelligent,  thrifty,  liberty-loving  people, 
unique  in  the  history  of  nations. 

I  was  told  that  it  was  impossible  to  find  in 
Switzerland  a  man  or  a  woman  of  sound  mind, 
who  could  not  read  and  write.  However  this 
may  be,  I  am  sure  the  percentage  of  illiteracy 
is  less  than  that  of  any  other  nation  in  the 
world. 

Every  sound  male,  between  twenty-one  and 
forty-five  years  of  age,  has  to  give  a  certain 
time  to  military  service,  unless  excused  for 
sufficient  reason.  Switzerland,  however,  is  a 
peaceful  Republic;  there  has  been  no  war 

95 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

since  1848,  and  that  was  a  domestic  one.  The 
integrity  of  the  nation  is  guaranteed  by  Ger- 
many, France,  Austria,  and  Italy.  Political 
corruption  is  unknown,  and,  so  far  as  human 
wisdom  can  foretell,  the  foundations  of  the 
Swiss  government  are  as  sound  and  lasting  as 
are  those  of  her  mighty  Jungfrau  or  Matter- 
horn. 

The  Swiss  people  seem  undersized.  To 
most  of  them  life  is  a  stern  battle  for  existence. 
The  unwilling,  stony  soil  yields  grudgingly; 
early  and  late  toil  men,  women,  and  children 
in  the  fields ;  far  up  the  mountain  sides,  as  well 
as  in  the  valleys,  the  soil  is  carefully  cultivated, 
and  so  steep  are  some  of  these  fields  that  from 
the  lower  levels  it  appears  almost  impossible 
for  human  beings  to  maintain  a  foothold,  to 
say  nothing  of  cultivating  the  ground  and 
harvesting  a  crop. 

A  striking,  yea,  a  pitiful  fact,  is  that  the 
children  have  faces  old  beyond  their  years. 
Rarely  does  one  observe  a  childish  looking 
face.  Then,  too,  they  are  subdued  and  silent 
in  manner.  One  seldom  sees  in  Switzerland 
the  bounding,  rollicking,  playful  spirit  of 
American  childhood. 

One  of  the  most  prolific  sources  of  income 
is  that  derived  from  tourists,  who  spend  here 

96 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 


thirty  million  dollars  per  annum.  There  are 
over  two  thousand  hotels  in  Switzerland.  For 
the  most  part,  prices  are  very  reasonable. 
The  great  attraction,  of  course,  is  the  unsur- 
passed mountain  scenery.  Many  persons 
mistakenly  credit  Mt.  Blanc  to  Switzerland. 
This  is  wrong.  Mt.  Blanc  is  the  great  attrac- 
tion of  the  French  Alps,  and  belongs  to  La 
Haute  Savoie  range.  Northeast  is  the  Walliser 
Range,  chief  of  which  is  the  famous  Matter- 
horn.  Around  Interlaken  is  the  Berne  Ober- 
land,  which  boasts  such  noble  peaks  as  Eiser 
(the  old  woman),  Monch  (the  monk),  and 
Jungfrau  (the  young  wife).  Farther  east  is 
the  Gotthard  group,  ancT  a  little  northeast  of 
that  is  the  Glarner  Range,  while  to  the  south- 
east lies  the  Grison  Range,  of  which  the 
beautiful  Bernini  Mountain  is  the  bright 
particular  star. 

But  to  return  to  Basle;  it  is  a  most  beauti- 
fully located  city,  on  the  banks  of  the  raging 
Rhone.  One  of  the  finest  bridges  in  the  world 
spans  the  river  at  this  point;  artistic  bronze 
groups  adorn  the  entrance,  and  from  its  arch 
is  obtained  a  beautiful  view  of  the  old  cathe- 
dral, begun  in  the  fourteenth,  and  completed 
in  the  sixteenth  century.  Some  fine  glass  is 
to  be  seen  in  this  edifice,  but  it  did  not  seem 

97 


7  *  (\i,- 


*•** 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

to  me  as  beautiful  as  that  in  the  churches  at 
Troyes,  Dourdan,  and  Nancy,  in  France.  It 
is  certainly  not  equal  to  that  in  Saint  Chapelle. 

The  marching  schoolboys,  clean,  intelli- 
gent, well-behaved,  bare-headed,  and  all  wear- 
ing a  loose,  blouse-like  overshirt,  greatly 
interested  me.  Perhaps  the  reason  for  my 
keen  interest  in  the  Swiss  boys  was  a  mental 
picture  of  three  sturdy  American  schoolboys 
trudging  away  to  school  from  the  House  of 
the  White  Lions,  in  East  Orange,  New  Jersey. 

The  ride  in  a  motor-car  from  Basle  to 
Lucerne  was  most  interesting.  Just  before 
coming  to  the  town  of  Olten,  we  had  a  tre- 
mendous climb,  —  first  speed  all  the  way,  and 
no  power  to  spare  at  that.  Our  first  day's 
ride  in  Switzerland  was  a  constantly  unfolding 
panorama  of  surprises.  Up  long  hills  and 
down  we  traveled,  one  after  the  other,  in 
rapid  succession.  And  yet,  be  it  said  to  the 
honor  and  glory  of  the  Swiss  government,  the 
roads  were  so  fine,  and  the  grades  so  gradual, 
that  we  did  it  all  easily,  and  without  any 
feeling  of  doubt  as  to  the  final  issue.  The 
deep,  black  forest  on  one  hand;  and  on  the 
other,  the  dropping  away  of  a  sheer  precipice 
for  two  thousand  feet,  to  smiling  valleys  where 
green  grass  was  growing,  with  patches  of 

98 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

garden  here  and  there;  and  between,  our 
smooth  white  road,  leading  ever  on  to  new 
scenic  beauties,  formed  a  picture  that  cannot 
be  adequately  described. 

At  Lucerne  we  had  the  pleasure  of  meeting 
those  excellent  Americans,  Judge  E.  L.  Scar- 
ritt  and  wife,  of  Kansas  City,  and  Miss  Helen 
Hendrix,  who,  with  Miss  Edna  Morris,  of  St. 
Joseph,  Mo.,  were  "doing  Europe"  in  the 
highly  proper  and  conventional  way.  While 
the  Judge  pretended  not  to  care  very  much 
for  automobiles  having  over  two  horse-power, 
yet  I  am  sure  that,  secretly,  he  envied  the 
Three  Men  in  a  Motor- Car  their  independence 
of  stuffy  railway  trains,  mysterious  time-tables, 
and  all  that  kind  of  horrible  slavery.  After  a 
delightful  Sabbath  with  our  friends  each  party 
went  its  separate  way. 

Of  course  we  saw  the  Lion  of  Lucerne, 
visited  the  Glacier  Garden,  heard  that  won- 
derful organ  in  the  old  cathedral,  and  spent 
a  most  enjoyable  night  on  Rigi-Kulm.  When 
we  were  ready  to  start  next  morning  for 
Interlaken  the  rain  was  pouring  down. 

Every  motorist  knows  that  it  is  no  fun  to 
drive  an  automobile  over  any  sort  of  a  road 
when  it  is  wet  and  slippery.  Imagine  one's 
feelings,  therefore,  in  undertaking  the  task 

99 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

when  a  skid  of  the  rear  wheels  may  mean  a 
drop  of  car  and  passengers  two  thousand  feet. 
Our  Chief  Engineer  comforted  us  with  the 
old  saw,  -  "  If  it  rains  before  seven,  'twill 
clear  before  eleven."  The  old  adage,  how- 
ever, must  have  slipped  a  cog,  as  our  cars 
sometimes  do,  for  at  eleven  it  was  still  coming 
down  in  a  steady  pour.  The  clouds  around 
old  Pilatus  were  thick  and  heavy,  and  our 
spirits  went  down  to  the  vanishing  point. 
Finally  at  twelve  it  lightened  a  bit,  and  we 
ventured  forth. 

There  was  no  fair  maiden  to  warn  us  not 
to  try  the  Pass  —  a  la  Excelsior.  As  a  matter 
of  fact,  the  authorities  had  taken  charge  of 
that,  and  because  of  reckless  driving  by  motor- 
ists who  had  .preceded  us,  Brunig  Pass,  on 
the  direct  route  to  Interlaken,  had  been  closed 
a  few  days  previously.  At  twelve-fifteen, 
however,  the  horn  sounded,  and  in  a  drizzling 
rain  we  rolled  over  the  slippery  streets  and 
were  soon  away  in  the  open  country. 

We  were  compelled  to  take  a  roundabout 
route,  and  owing  to  the  condition  of  the  roads 
did  not  average  more  than  twelve  miles  an 
hour.  We  passed  through  the  old  towns  of 
Lignan  and  Thun,  and  then  skirted  the  south 
side  of  the  beautiful  Lake  Thunersu,  directly 

100 


Waterfall  —  900  Feet  —  Lauterbrunnen 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

into  Interlaken.  We  had  come  seventy  kilo- 
meters, and  glad  enough  were  we  to  get 
through  that  rainy  afternoon  without  accident 
to  man  or  machine.  At  the  Beau  Rivage 
hostelry  we  were  made  most  comfortable  by 
mine  host,  Herr  Doepfeur,  whom  we  found 
most  courteous  and  solicitous  for  our  comfort 
and  welfare. 

"As  the  mountains  are  round  about  Jeru- 
salem," so  are  they  in  lofty  grandeur  round 
about  Interlaken.  When  the  sunlight  burst 
through  my  window,  the  morning  after  our 
arrival,  I  looked  out  and  up  to  a  matchless 
scene  of  beauty.  There  Jungfrau  lifted  her 
mighty  brow,  crowned  with  the  snows  of 
centuries  and  bathed  in  the  glory  of  the 
morning  sun. 

We  took  the  motor-car  and  rode  out  to 
Lauterbrunnen,  where  the  railway  up  the 
first  mountain  towards  Jungfrau  begins.  This 
road  climbs  to  an  altitude  of  six  thousand 
seven  hundred  and  sixty-five  feet,  and  ends  at  a 
station  called  Kleine  Scheidegg.  Here  begins 
the  famous  Jungfrau  road,  a  piece  of  engi- 
neering so  audacious  that  it  interests  the  whole 
civilized  world.  It  is  a  cog-wheel  affair,  and 
the  cars  are  propelled  by  electricity  generated 
by  waterfalls  in  the  valley  below.  Strange, 

101 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

is  it  not,  that  the  gently  melting  snow  should 
really  furnish  all  the  tremendous  power  neces- 
sary to  operate  this  mountain  railway  ?  The 
road  has  been  in  process  of  construction  for 
several  years,  and  is  now  open  to  the  public 
to  Eismeer  (Ice  Sea)  station,  at  an  altitude 
of  ten  thousand  three  hundred  sixty-two  feet 
above  sea  level.  Its  completion  will  require 
an  additional  five  years.  The  last  three  hun- 
dred feet  of  the  ascent  to  the  summit  will  be 
by  elevators.  Think  of  man's  mastery  over 
nature,  in  thus  building  a  road  which  will 
enable  any  one,  without  hardship,  or  even 
discomfort,  to  ascend  to  the  very  summit  of 
Jungfrau,  hitherto  all  but  inaccessible,  one 
of  the  great  mountain  peaks  of  the  world, 
almost  fourteen  thousand  feet  in  height! 

The  views  to  be  enjoyed  on  this  superb 
climb  are  perhaps  unequalled  anywhere  else 
on  the  globe.  As  we  ascend,  the  valley  drops 
lower  and  lower,  and  still  we  climb,  higher 
and  higher  toward  the  clouds.  It  is  growing 
cold,  and  we  don  our  overcoats.  Now  we  are 
at  the  snow  line,  and  can  plainly  see  the  dark 
blue  ice  of  the  glaciers.  Oh,  how  wild  and 
rugged  is  all  the  earth  that  lies  about  us. 
The  lofty  Eiger,  Monch,  and  Silberhorn  are 
just  before  us.  Here  are  we  at  last,  more 

102 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

than  ten  thousand  feet  in  air;  here  amidst  the 
silence  of  eternal  ice  and  snow.  A  mote  in 
a  sunbeam;  a  grain  of  sand  on  a  river's  bank; 
a  drop  in  a  shoreless  ocean;  forgotten  atoms 
on  the  rim  of  the  world,  are  we  midgets, 
creatures  of  a  flying  hour,  who  have  dared  to 
climb  these  dizzy,  dizzy  heights,  and  from  the 
bosom  of  Jungf rau  look  into  the  unveiled  face 
of  the  burning  sun  ? 

We  look  out  upon  a  scene  of  awful  grandeur. 
Here  are  the  glaciers  of  unnumbered  ages.  In 
the  snow  are  great  fissures,  irregular  and 
broken.  It  is  as  though  the  gods,  in  some 
terrible  paroxysm  of  grief  or  rage,  had,  with 
enormous  flails,  slashed  and  beaten  the  land- 
scape into  horrible  scars. 

The  best  view-point  of  the  whole  range  is 
from  Kleine  Scheidegg.  The  snow  lies  above 
and  below  you;  your  near  neighbors  are  the 
cracking  glaciers;  the  sun  shines  down  on 
lofty  Silberhorn  with  her  perfect  cone-shaped 
peak,  all  white  in  spotless  mantle  clad.  You 
can  easily  imagine  her  a  great  white  goddess, 
cold  and  chaste,  and  all  the  other  mountain 
gods  coming  to  pay  homage,  and  worship  at 
the  shrine  of  her  immaculate  beauty. 

The  train  quickly  carries  us  around  to 
Grindelwald,  where  our  motor-car  meets  us. 

103 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

The  next  morning  we  left  the  city  among 
the  lakes  for  Geneva,  traveling  one  hundred 
twenty-six  miles,  via  Thun,  Berne,  Freiburg, 
and  Lausanne.  The  scenery  was  the  most 
varied  and  beautiful  we  had  yet  driven 
through,  especially  the  last  thirty-five  miles, 
when  we  skirted  the  lake  between  Lausanne 
and  Geneva.  Away  in  the  west,  where  the 
King  of  Day  was  dying,  great  clouds,  like 
white-winged  angels,  were  gathered  about  his 
golden  couch.  A  little  nearer,  a  noble  moun- 
tain range,  with  soft  blue  peaks,  marched  by 
our  flying  car  in  stately  procession.  On  our 
immediate  right,  pleasant  vineyards  smiled  in 
the  softened  sunlight,  while  on  our  left  Lake 
Leman's  turquoise  blue  lay  as  a  gem  among 
the  mighty  hills.  Still  farther  eastward  the 
Bernese  Alps  lifted  their  hoary  heads  into 
the  realms  of  silence  and  of  space.  In  front 
of  us,  as  straight  and  shining  as  an  arrow,  lay 
a  perfect  road,  over  which  our  good  car  carried 
us  swiftly  and  safely,  through  the  "gathering 
gloom.  Then  came  the  lights  of  Geneva,  and 
with  them  our  glorious  ride  was  ended. 


104 


CHAPTER  XII 

ONE  of  the  pleasantest  features  of  traveling 
in  a  motor-car  in  Europe,  or  in  any  other 
country  for  that  matter,  is  the  pleasure  of 
meeting  fellow  Americans.  As  we  were  dis- 
mounting from  our  car  after  that  delightful 
run  from  Interlaken  via  Lausanne  to  Geneva, 
our  attention  was  attracted  to  a  fine  sixty  horse- 
power French  automobile.  After  the  driver 
had  alighted  and  removed  a  few  goggles,  coats, 
and  other  impedimenta  of  motoring,  we  rec- 
ognized Mr.  George  Isham  Scott,  of  New 
York,  a  prominent  member  of  the  Automobile 
Club  of  America,  and  chairman  of  its  Racing 
Committee. 

Mr.  Scott  related  an  unpleasant  experience 
he  had  had  that  afternoon  at  Evonette,  on 
Lake  Geneva.  He  was  driving  very  slowly 
through  that  insignificant  village,  while  the 
street  was  perfectly  clear,  when  a  constable 
rushed  out  and  placed  him  under  arrest  for 
exceeding  the  speed  limit,  which  was  the  ab- 
surd rate  of  four  miles  an  hour.  This  is 

105 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

about  the  rate  at  which  a  man  walks.  Never- 
theless Mr.  Scott  was  mulcted  twenty-five 
francs  to  satisfy  the  demands  of  Evonette 
justice.  The  following  day  I  accompanied 
Mr.  Scott  to  the  Swiss  Club.  Here  we  were 
informed  that  the  officials  of  this  moth-eaten 
village  have  an  organized  system  of  graft,  and 
that  no  matter  how  slowly  a  motorist  drives, 
he  is  seized  and  promptly  fined,  the  officials 
dividing  the  amount  of  the  fine  with  the 
municipality. 

At  Geneva  I  also  had  the  pleasure  of  meet- 
ing Mr.  and  Mrs.  H.  Sellers  McKee,  who, 
with  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Hart  McKee,  were  touring 
Europe  in  a  fine  French  car.  Mr.  McKee 
related  an  odd  experience  which  might  have 
had  a  serious  ending. 

Near  the  Swiss  border  of  France  they  were 
going  along  over  a  perfect  road  at  about  forty 
miles  an  hour.  On  reaching  a  fork  in  the 
road  they  stopped.  Suddenly,  from  inside 
the  car,  twenty  or  more  bees  arose,  and  began 
buzzing  savagely  about  their  ears.  Both  men 
and  women  were  compelled  to  alight  quickly, 
and  for  a  time  abandon  the  car.  Mr.  McKee' s 
explanation  is  that  the  car,  which  was  provided 
with  a  hood,  had  been  going  so  rapidly  that, 
one  by  one,  these  bees  had  been  overtaken, 

106 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

and  gathered  into  the  vehicle,  falling  to  the 
bottom,  where  they  lay  quietly  until  the  car 
stopped.  After  some  time  they  rid  them- 
selves of  their  unwelcome  visitors  and  pro- 
ceeded on  their  way.  The  incident  had  been 
forgotten,  when  suddenly  a  bee  stung  the 
driver  on  the  hand.  On  account  of  the  sud- 
den pain  he  removed  his  hand  for  an  instant 
from  the  wheel,  when  the  car  at  once  shot  off 
the  roadway  and  into  an  adjoining  field,  trav- 
eling a  considerable  distance  before  it  could 
be  brought  to  a  stop.  Had  there  been  an 
embankment  or  a  precipice  at  that  particular 
spot,  terrible  injury  or  sudden  death  would 
have  been  the  ending  to  what  happily  proved 
a  harmless  though  exciting  incident. 

I  regret  that  the  limitations  of  time  and 
space  are  such  that  Geneva  must  be  dismissed 
with  a  single  paragraph.  It  is  rich  in  historic 
interest,  and  is  nestled  among  the  Savoy  hills 
on  Lake  Leman's  banks,  on  which  "Old 
Chillon"  stands,  dear  to  the  memory  of  every 
schoolboy.  As  we  rode  away  we  feasted  our 
eyes  upon  the  beautiful  view,  and  upon  peerless 
Mt.  Blanc,  standing,  a  cold  and  lone  sentinel, 
over  the  city  by  the  lake. 

A  few  minutes  out  of  Geneva  we  crossed 
the  Swiss  border  and  were  once  more,  to  our 

107 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

great  satisfaction,  on  French  soil,  and  upon 
French  roads,  which  are  superior  to  those  of 
any  other  country  in  Europe.  We  were 
thankful  to  have  made  our  trip  through 
Switzerland  without  the  slightest  annoyance 
or  persecution.  We  had  nothing  thrown  after 
us  worse  than  a  few  ugly  looks.  We  consid- 
ered ourselves  fortunate,  as  not  a  few  tourists 
have  been  pelted  with  stones  and  threat- 
ened with  pitchforks  in  the  hands  of  angry 
peasants  who  claim  that  their  crops  are 
damaged  by  the  dust  stirred  up  by  motor-cars. 
Switzerland  profits  largely  by  the  trail  of  gold 
left  in  the  wake  of  American  and  English 
travelers.  Is  she  going  to  be  so  foolish  as 
to  kill  the  goose  that  every  year  lays  for  her 
citizens  a  nest  full  of  golden  eggs? 

The  ride  to  Aix-les-Bains  was  over  a  suc- 
cession of  hills,  but  our  good  car  never  once 
flinched,  no  matter  how  heavy  her  load,  or 
how  steep  the  grade.  Our  tire  troubles  were 
a  negligible  quantity.  Our  front  wheels  were 
shod  with  Michelins  and  they  gave  perfect 
service  during  the  tour,  although  run  some  two 
thousand  miles  before  we  started  on  our  long 
trip  abroad.  Our  rear  tires  were  Michelins 
reinforced  with  Sampson  covering;  not  only 
did  they  prove  loyal  through  every  mile  of  our 

108 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

journey,  but  showed  scarcely  any  sign  of  wear 
at  the  finish,  notwithstanding  the  hard  treat- 
ment to  which  they  were  subjected.  Reliable 
tires  contribute  as  much  to  the  enjoyment  of 
an  extended  automobile  tour  as  does  a  good 
and  reliable  car. 

Aix-les-Bains  is  a  town  of  some  eight  thou- 
sand permanent  population,  forty-five  miles 
from  Geneva,  in  France.  It  is  noted  for  its 
sulphur  baths,  which  are  among  the  most 
famous  in  the  world.  Aix  (pronounced  X  in 
France)  was  a  favorite  resort  of  the  late  Queen 
of  Blessed  Memory,  -  -  Victoria.  Aix  is  pat- 
ronized by  kings  and  princes  and  noted  men 
from  all  parts  of  the  world,  the  season  begin- 
ning in  March  and  ending  with  the  close  of 
October.  Because  of  the  many  sick  people 
who  come  to  Aix-les-Bains  it  is  often  face- 
tiously called  "  Aches  and  Pains."  Probably 
there  is  no  resort  in  this  or  any  other  country 
offering  so  much  in  the  way  of  natural  scenery, 
or  of  mineral  waters  so  efficacious.  The  springs 
are  numerous,  there  being  two  thermal  ones 
that  yield  one  million  gallons  per  day.  These 
have  a  wide  reputation  for  the  cure  of  rheuma- 
tism, gout,  sciatica,  neuralgia,  etc.  There  are 
other  springs  in  this  Savoy  district  which  are 
rich  in  iron  and  arsenic,  and  the  debilitated 

109 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

from  all  lands  and  climes  flock  hither  to  par- 
take of  the  healing  waters.  Many  come  too 
late  in  life,  and  with  George  Eliot  must  say, 
"Death  is  the  only  physician;  the  shadow  of 
his  valley  the  only  journeying  that  can  cure 
me  of  age  and  the  gathering  fatigue  of  years." 

These  baths  of  Aix  were  famous  in  Roman 
times,  the  Romans  calling  them  Aquae  Gra- 
tianse.  There  still  remains  standing  a  Roman 
arch  known  as  the  Arch  Campanus.  It  is  a 
mural  monument  erected  about  sixteen  cen- 
turies ago.  It  is  thirty  feet  high  and  twenty- 
two  feet  wide,  and  is  in  an  excellent  state  of 
preservation.  Eight  niches  contain  the  ashes 
of  Roman  gentlemen. 

As  we  stopped  our  motor-car  near  by,  and 
took  a  snap-shot  at  the  old  arch,  I  could  not 
but  think  of  what  strange  contrasts  this  old 
world  of  ours  presents,  and  I  wondered  what 
Julius  Caesar  would  say  could  he  have  been 
able  to  examine  our  "Devil  Wagon."  Quite 
likely  he  would  have  regarded  it  as  some  new- 
fangled war  chariot  and  would  have  ordered 
out  a  body  of  his  trained  guards  to  shoot  our 
tires  full  of  arrows  and  jam  javelins  into  our 
gasolene  tank. 

Thirty  thousand  visitors  throng  Aix  every 
year,  and  all  of  these  must  be  entertained  as 

no 


Val  du  Fier 


well  as  bathed  and  fed.  The  Casino  is  one 
of  the  most  beautifully  ornamented  places  of 
amusement  to  be  found  in  Europe,  and  to 
gaze  upon  some  of  its  highly  decorated  ceilings 
makes  one  think  he  is  back  at  Fontainebleau 
or  at  the  Palace  at  Versailles. 

At  nine-fifteen  the  following  morning,  and 
in  a  rain-storm,  we  bade  good-by  to  our 
cheery  host  of  the  Albion  Hotel,  who  had 
most  comfortably  provided  for  us  and  to 
whom  we  were  indebted  for  many  courtesies, 
and  turned  our  bonnet  toward  Macon,  France. 
Our  route  lay  through  the  famous  gorge  known 
as  Val  du  Fier.  I  possess  exceptional  ability 
in  the  art  of  forgetting  French  names,  but  the 
Val  du  Fier,  because  of  its  wild  and  rugged 
beauty,  is  burnt  into  my  memory  forever. 

A  French  road,  which  means  a  perfect  road, 
leads  through  it.  On  the  left,  five  hundred 
feet  below,  rushed  a  mountain  stream,  on  the 
opposite  bank  of  which  arose  beetling  crags 
to  a  height  of  a  thousand  feet.  On  our  imme- 
diate right  stood  a  bare,  grim  mountain  of 
stone,  and  in  front  of  us,  turning  and  twisting 
like  a  great  white  snake,  lay  our  hard  smooth 
road.  The  rain  had  gone  and  the  sun  poured 
down  his  genial  rays  from  a  deep  blue  sky, 
The  wine  of  life  was  in  the  air  and  we 

ill 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

were  young  again.  More  than  that,  we  had 
captured  one  of  the  gods  and  were  driving 
him  through  the  wild  gardens  of  his  ancestors. 

We  reached  at  length  the  plain  beyond  and 
continued  for  an  hour  upon  our  way.  Ab- 
sorbed in  discussing  the  wild  beauty  of  the 
gorge  we  had  given  little  heed  to  direction  or 
distance,  until,  the  Historian  came  to  earth 
again  and  discovered  that  we  were  thirteen 
miles  off  our  route.  We  consequently  re- 
traced our  rubber  steps  and  soon  were  right 
again.  A  few  miles  further  brought  us  to  the 
village  of  Artmare,  where  we  stopped  to  re- 
plenish our  tanks  with  essence.  And  now  a 
new  and  delightful  experience  was  awaiting 
us. 

It  was  August  30th,  and  the  hour  being  one 
P.M.,  the  eclipse  of  the  sun  was  coming  on. 
At  every  turn  the  villagers  were  out  in  the 
streets  with  pieces  of  smoked  glass,  gazing 
heavenward.  We  stopped  our  car,  and  find- 
ing a  piece  of  broken  window-pane,  with  the 
aid  of  some  matches  were  soon  equipped  with 
a  proper  medium  through  which  to  view  the 
glorious  spectacle.  A  few  miles  farther  on 
we  entered  the  far-famed  Albarine  Valley. 

I  must  here  call  attention  to  a  combination 
of  fortuitous  circumstances  which  rendered 

112 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

our  ride  for  the  next  two  hours,  not  only  most 
enjoyable,  but  thoroughly  unique. 

First  of  all,  the  day  was  a  perfect  one,  like 
our  own  days  in  June,  of  which  the  poet  sings, 

"Oh,  Happy  Day,  refuse  to  go, 
Hang  in  the  Heavens,  forever  so, 
Forever  in  mid-afternoon, 
Oh,  Happy  Day,  in  Happy  June." 

Next  in  importance,  to  the  motorist,  our 
car  was  behaving  perfectly.  Again,  the  road 
was  as  smooth  and  as  hard  as  human  skill 
could  fashion  a  highway.  This  was  enough, 
but  the  crowning  delights  are  still  to  be  related. 

The  scenery  of  the  Valley  of  the  Albarine 
is  the  most  picturesque  and  altogether  en- 
trancing of  any  it  had  yet  been  our  happy  lot 
to  travel,  and  may  my  motor  never  turn 
another  wheel,  if  I  forget  Switzerland.  Never- 
theless, I  recant  not. 

Not  in  angry  or  in  petulant  mood,  but  with 
calm  judgment  and  dignified  purpose,  had  the 
giant  forces  of  Nature  walled  in  this  causeway 
for  the  footsteps  of  their  little  brother,  the  com- 
ing man.  In  this  valley,  high  up  on  the  rocky 
sides,  one  might  easily  believe  dwelt,  in  cliffs, 
prehistoric  man.  Through  this  valley,  again 
and  again,  came  the  pillaging  barbarians 
of  early  Europe;  through  this  valley  Julius 

113 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

Caesar  marched  his  invincible  legions,  and 
through  this  valley,  on  that  memorable  day, 
echoed  and  re-echoed  the  rhythmic  song  of 
our  good  motor-car,  —  the  last  best  gift  of  all 
the  gods  to  man. 

To  all  this  add  the  weird  spectacle  of  the 
sun's  eclipse,  —  almost  total,  as  viewed  from 
the  Albarine  Valley,  it  being  eighty-two  per 
cent,  —  and  you  have  a  combination  of  cir- 
cumstances contributing  to  the  most  fascinat- 
ing ride  mortal  man  ever  had.  It  was  as 
though  the  great  Day  King,  jealous  with  rage, 
or  mad  with  fear  that  midget  man  should 
mock  him  with  his  modern  motor-car,  mount- 
ing with  mighty  strides  his  rocky  fastnesses, 
where  mortals  hitherto  had  come  only  with 
great  labor  and  difficulty,  had  screened  his 
shining  face  to  shut  out  a  sight  he  could  not 
well  endure. 

On  leaving  this  Valley  of  Delight  we  paused 
awhile  beneath  a  sheltering  tree,  and  were 
eating  our  simple  luncheon  of  sandwiches, 
with  a  bottle  of  good  red  wine  of  the  country, 
when  two  peasants  passed  us  on  their  bicycles, 
and  showed  their  friendly  interest  and  sym- 
pathy by  their  cheerful  salutation:  "Bon  ap- 
petit,  Messieurs."  It  was  a  pleasant  incident, 
coming  unexpectedly  to  strangers  in  a  strange 

114 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

land;  it  touched  our  hearts  in  a  strange  way, 
and  in  the  treasure-house  of  the  memories  of 
our  journey  will  long  remain  one  of  its  brightest 
gems. 

It  would  seem  as  though  our  cup  of  enjoy- 
ment had  been  filled,  and  that  nothing  could 
be  added.  But  strenuous  Americans  were  we 
Three  Men  in  a  Motor-Car,  with  insatiable 
appetites  for  seeing  things;  besides,  but  a  few 
"to-morrows"  remained  to  us  before  our  date 
of  sailing,  so  from  the  wonderful  works  of 
the  Creator  we  turned  to  view  the  handiwork 
of  the  created. 

We  came  in  the  late  mellow  afternoon  of 
that  glorious  day  to  the  old  town  of  Bourg. 
Its  chief  object  of  interest  is  the  old  Church 
of  Brou,  celebrated  in  a  poem  by  Matthew 
Arnold.  Again  were  we  under  a  lucky  star, 
for  a  bright  young  Italian  priest,  with  features 
as  finely  cut  as  a  cameo,  who  spoke  English 
well,  offered  to  show  us  over  the  historic 
place.  The  church,  he  told  us,  had  been 
erected  in  1115-36,  by  Margaret  of  Austria, 
whose  husband,  Philibert  II,  was  the  noble 
Duke  of  Savoy,  in  compliance  with  a  vow 
made  by  the  Duke's  mother.  The  portal  is 
highly  ornamental,  and  the  interior  is  cheerful 
(which  cannot  be  said  of  many  of  the  old 

115 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

churches)  as  well  as  simple  and  dignified.  It 
contains  the  tombs  of  the  Duke,  as  well  as 
those  of  his  wife  and  his  mother  —  Margaret 
of  Bourbon;  the  tombs  are  of  Carrara  marble, 
and  surmounted  by  recumbent  figures  of  those 
in  whose  honor  they  were  built.  Richly  orna- 
mented pillars  and  statuettes,  carved  in  the 
most  delicate  and  beautiful  way,  adorn  these 
magnificent  tombs.  There  are  also  some  old 
stained-glass  windows,  and  some  paintings 
which  are  three  hundred  and  sixty-five  years 
old. 

Out  into  the  soft  sunlight  from  the  presence 
of  the  royal  dead  we  came.  It  was  but  a 
short  ride,  some  twenty  miles,  to  Macon, 
which  was  to  mark  the  end  of  this  splendid 
day's  journey,  but  the  atmosphere  of  that 
sacred  place  seemed  to  accompany  us  and 
we  rode  on  in  silence.  As  we  proceeded,  each 
of  us  lost  in  his  own  thoughts  for  the  time 
being,  the  Spirit  of  the  Past  rose  before  ine. 
I  saw  empires  rise,  flourish,  and  fall  into 
decay;  I  saw  the  pomp  and  pageantry  of 
kings  and  queens,  and  the  end  —  a  handful 
of  ashes  in  a  forgotten  crypt  at  Bourg.  Sic 
transit  gloria  mundi. 

But  I  recalled  the  Albarine  Valley,  with  its 
towering  cliffs,  and  I  said:  "This  shall  en- 

116 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

dure";  then  there  came  to  my  mind  those 
lines  of  Shakespeare,  carved  on  his  tomb, 
which  I  had  read  only  a  few  weeks  before  in 
Westminster  Abbey: 

"The  cloud-capped  towers,  the  gorgeous  palaces, 
The  solemn  temples,  yea,  the  great  globe  itself, 
And  all  who  it  inhabit,  shall  fade 
Like  the  baseless  fabric  of  a  vision, 
And  leave  not  e'en  a  wreck  behind." 


117 


CHAPTER  XIII 

LIKE  an  arrow  in  its  shining  flight,  like  a 
swallow  on  swift  wing,  like  a%  thistle  driven 
down  the  wind,  came  we  that  glorious  Sep- 
tember day  into  Paris,  and  our  long  and  happy 
journey  was  ended. 

The  last  chapter  quite  inadequately  de- 
scribed the  eventful  ride  from  Aix-les-Bains 
through  the  Val-du-Fier,  and  the  Albarine 
Valley  to  Macon  in  Southeastern  France. 
Any  ride  after  that  matchless  one,  on  which 
we  witnessed  through  the  clear  mountain  air 
the  sun's  eclipse,  would  be  commonplace  if 
not  wholly  uninteresting. 

At  Macon,  an  unimportant  town  of  eighteen 
thousand  inhabitants,  we  crossed  the  Saone 
River  and  journeyed  westward  for  twelve 
miles  to  St.  Cecile.  The  next  twelve  miles 
to  a  junction  with  the  National  Road  leading 
into  Charolles  was  straight  across  country, 
with  highway  marked  poor.  Aside  from  some 
steep  grades,  the  road  was  about  equal  to  the 
best  in  America.  Poor  in  France  —  good  in 

118 


/y  /.*• 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

America.  What  a  commentary  on  our  boasted 
western  civilization!  At  La  Motte,  a  few 
miles  further  on,  we  came  to  the  banks  of  the 
Loire  River  and  the  famous  valley  of  that 
name.  The  air  was  soft  and  balmy,  the  sun 
played  hide-and-seek  with  the  clouds,  and 
peek-a-boo  with  the  mortals  in  the  motor-car, 
as  we  sped  on  our  way  on  the  north  side  of 
~  ,  the  river  over  perfect  roads  to  Nevers,  where 
we  stopped  for  luncheon.  An  easy  run  of 
thirty-eight  miles  brought  us  in  the  late  after- 
noon to  the  old  city  of  Bourges.  It  is  a  place 
of  forty-six  thousand  inhabitants,  located  in 
the  midst  of  a  flat  plain  at  the  conjunction  of 
the  Yevre  and  Auron  rivers.  It  contains  a  .,, 
large  gun  factory,  and  is  the  headquarters  of 
the  Seventh  Army  Corps.  This  city  is  the 
Avaricum  described  by  Caesar  in  his  Com- 
mentaries, which  he  captured  and  pillaged  a 
half  century  before  the  beginning  of  the 
Christian  era. 

There  must  always  be  a  climax,  and  in 
cathedrals  we  reached  the  ne  plus  ultra  at 
Bourges. 

As  Jungfrau  to  the  Alps,  as  Niagara  to 
a  streamlet  —  so  Bourges  Cathedral  loomed 
large  upon  our  horizon.  Truly  it  is  in  the 
nature  of  spiritual  thought  to  manifest  itself. 

119 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

Thus  the  worshipful  spirit  projects  itself  into 
lofty  tower  and  majestic  dome  and  splendid 
arch  and  nave  and  transept;  and  through 
the  material  we  catch  a  glimpse  of  man's 
struggle  to  express  his  concept  of  the  Majesty 
and  Dominion  and  Power  of  the  Infinite. 
But  Majesty  and  Dominion  and  Power  are 
not  all  the  attributes  of  the  Supreme.  Mercy 
and  Pity  and  Tenderness  and  Love  are  His; 
and  so  human  skill  taxes  its  highest  powers, 
and  splendid  fresco,  and  delicate  carving  in 
imperishable  marble,  and  beautiful  stained- 
glass  windows,  strive  to  comfort  the  worship- 
ing soul  by  suggesting  these  tender  qualities 
of  the  Infinite. 

Thinking  these  thoughts,  and  with  un- 
covered heads,  we  approached  the  beautiful 
fapade  of  the  Cathedral  of  St.  Etienne,  one  of 
the  finest  churches  on  the  globe,  dating  from 
the  thirteenth,  fourteenth,  and  sixteenth  cen- 
turies. 

The  front  of  this  superb  structure  is  one 
hundred  and  eighty  feet  in  width,  and  com- 
prises five  portals  ornately  decorated  with 
groups  of  sculptures,  the  chief  and  center  of 
which  is  The  Last  Judgment.  Above  this  is  a 
matchless  circular  rose-window  thirty  feet  in 
diameter.  The  tower  on  the  south,  called 

120 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

Tour  Sourde,  one  hundred  and  ninety  feet 
high,  was  erected  in  the  fourteenth  century 
and  is  still  uncompleted.  The  north  tower, 
called  Tour  de  Beurre,  was  constructed  during 
the  sixteenth  century  with  money  received 
from  the  sale  of  indulgences  to  eat  butter 
during  lent. 

The  interior  of  this  structure  is  most  noble 
and  imposing.  It  is  three  hundred  and 
seventy  feet  long,  one  hundred  and  thirty  feet 
wide,  with  the  splendid  arches  of  the  nave 
lifting  themselves  one  hundred  and  twenty  feet 
above  the  level  of  the  marble  floor. 

The  majestic  proportions  of  this  huge  struc- 
ture are  so  fine  that  all  parts  merge  into  one 
harmonious  whole,  and  you  stand  lost  in  won- 
der and  admiration,  overwhelmed  by  its  simple 
dignity  and  solemn  grandeur. 

Then  the  stained-glass  windows,  dating 
from  about  1250  A.D.  !  They  are  said  to  be 
the  finest  in  France.  It  has  been  said  that 
thought  is  deeper  than  all  speech  —  feeling 
deeper  than  all  thought.  These  windows  are 
feeling  in  color.  There  are  sobs  and  prayers 
and  tears.  There  is  grief  and  despair  and 
sorrow.  There  is  joy  and  faith  and  hope. 
Struck  out  in  lines  of  living  light  is  every  note 
in  the  gamut  of  life  with  its  mystery  and  its 

121 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

tragedy.  But  the  high  lights  of  Faith  are 
triumphant  over  the  somber  light  of  Fear,  and 
from  this  holy  place  go  you  away  comforted. 

The  next  morning  we  were  up  betimes  and 
on  our  way.  About  noontime  we  arrived  at 
Selles-sur-Cher.  At  this  place  we  had  the 
pleasure  of  meeting  Mr.  Charles  T.  Edgar 
and  family,  of  Boston.  They  were  touring 
Europe  in  a  fine  American  car.  The  fates 
put  it  within  their  power  to  do  us  a  kind  and 
neighborly  service  for  which  we  were  exceed- 
ingly grateful.  We  were  somewhat  behind 
our  schedule  and  I  was  a  bit  anxious  because 
I  knew  an  important  telegram  was  waiting 
me  at  Tours  forty  miles  distant.  I  finally 
decided  that  I  would  telephone  the  Hotel 
d'Univers  at  Tours  and  ask  the  clerk  to  repeat 
the  message  over  the  'phone.  But  again,  alas ! 
The  telephone  service  throughout  France  is 
as  rotten  as  it  is  within  the  possibilities  of 
human  language  to  express.  It  is  as  though 
Satan,  by  a  supreme  effort  of  his  will,  had 
concocted  the  subtlest  device  within  his  power 
to  tempt  mortals  to  break  all  the  command- 
ments at  once.  Then  having  created  the 
system  he  ransacked  all  the  lunatic  asylums, 
-  chose  the  choicest  specimens  of  chuckle- 
headed,  blithering  idiots  he  could  find  and 

122 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

put  them  on  as  managers  and  operators. 
What  is  the  result  ?  You  undertake  to  get  a 
number.  There  are  two  others  ahead  of  you, 
therefore  your  number  is  "Three."  You  wait 
twenty  minutes  and  then  make  further  inquiry. 
Now  there  are  six  others  ahead  of  you,  and 
your  number  is  "Seven."  You  may  inquire, 
protest,  yea  do  worse;  you  can  get  neither 
satisfaction  nor  explanation.  Finally,  when 
forty  minutes  have  gone  by,  courage,  strength, 
and  patience  gone  with  them,  you  are  ushered 
into  a  padded  cell.  Now  this  cell,  padded 
two  inches  thick,  is  the  only  sane  provision  of 
the  whole  system.  The  object  of  it  is  to  pre- 
vent suicide,  for  which  the  company  would  be 
held  responsible.  By  the  time  you  are  ad- 
mitted to  this  padded  cell,  you  are  in  despera- 
tion, but  your  tribulations  are  only  beginning, 
and  in  fifteen  to  twenty  minutes  after  you 
enter  this  living  coffin,  your  collar  is  gone,  the 
Turkish  bath  is  on,  you  have  held  the  re- 
ceiver to  your  ear  until  you  are  sure  it  will 
grow  there  —  then  you  find  you  have  been 
given  the  wrong  number.  Then  and  there 
everything  inside  of  you  seems  to  break  at 
once,  and  you  make  a  desperate  effort  to  bat 
your  brains  out.  No  difference  if  you  are  a 
big  Bishop  or  a  perfect  lady,  you  say  things 

123 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

out  loud  right  then  and  there,  in  a  way  that 
to  hear  under  normal  temper  would  curdle 
your  young  blood  —  while  all  the  devils  in 
Hell  clap  their  red-hot  hands  and  yell  in 
ghoulish  glee  that  another  saint  has  gone 
wrong. 

After  a  heroic  attempt  to  telephone  Tours 
I  gave  up  in  sheer  despair  and  decided  I  could 
get  the  information  more  quickly  by  going 
after  it  by  train.  Upon  inquiry  I  found  that 
the  railroad  station  was  three  quarters  of  a 
mile  away,  and  the  Tours  train  due  in  seven 
minutes.  To  catch  that  train  meant  the 
saving  of  at  least  one  whole  day.  And  who 
wouldn't  do  and  dare  and  die  —  almost  - 
for  an  extra  day's  motoring  in  beautiful 
France  ? 

My  resolution  was  taken  instantly.  I 
dashed  out  of  the  telephone  office,  having 
recovered  my  temper  sufficiently  to  talk  with- 
out breaking  the  third  commandment,  and 
inquired  of  the  first  passer-by  the  way  to  the 
station.  That  man  was  deaf  and  I  wanted  to 
throttle  him.  Getting  the  general  direction, 
I  took  the  middle  of  the  street,  my  raincoat 
flying  on  one  arm,  a  handful  of  road-maps 
and  a  copy  of  Baedeker's  Southern  France 
tightly  clasped  in  the  other.  Then  began  the 

124 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

most  strenuous  seven  minutes  I  ever  put  in. 
In  college  days  I  had  won  a  prize  as  sprinter, 
but  I  am  sure  I  beat  my  early  record.  Shout- 
ing to  every  one  I  met,  "  Chemin-de-fer  pour 
Tours  ?"  without  pausing  a  moment,  I  dashed 
on.  Once  I  turned  a  wrong  corner  and  lost 
a  hundred  precious  yards.  "Chemin-de-fer 
pour  Tours  ?  "  and  a  schoolboy  put  me  right. 
Doubtless  the  inhabitants  of  that  quiet  village  • 
thought  a  crazy  man  was  loose  in  their  midst. 
Meanwhile  a  gust  of  wind  had  blown  my  cap 
into  the  river  and  I  was  bareheaded.  The 
train  whistles  for  the  station.  Can  I  make  it  ? 
Never  did  Grecian  runner  long  for  laurel 
prize  as  longed  I  to  catch  that  train  for  Tours. 
We  arrived  at  the  platform  together.  I  fell 
exhausted  into  the  first  compartment  and  lay 
down  on  the  floor  panting  like  a  water  spaniel, 
the  perspiration  starting  from  every  pore,  but 
victorious.  Seventeen  minutes  later  the  train  ||% 
started. 

Much  to  my  joy  I  found  the  precious  tele- 
gram and  caught  a  train  back  in  one  hour 
and  twenty  minutes.  That  night  I  slept  the 
sleep  of  physical  and  spiritual  exhaustion, 
comforted,  however,  in  knowing  that  early  on 
the  following  day  we  would  be  on  our  happy 
way  into  the  chateau  country. 

125 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

By  eight  o'clock  the  next  morning  our  car 
was  at  the  door  and  we  were  ready  to  depart. 
We  felt  keen  sympathy  for  some  fellow- 
motorists,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  De  Malglaive  and 
their  son  and  daughter,  a  cultured  family 
from  Mustapha,  Alger,  who  were  touring 
France  in  a  fine  limousine  car.  The  gears 
had  broken  and  for  three  long  tedious  days 
they  had  been  detained  in  that  stupid  little 
town  whose  hotel  accommodations  it  is  char- 
itable not  to  mention.  They  were  living  in 
expectation  of  getting  away  the  following  day, 
and  every  motorist  will  sincerely  trust  their 
hopes  were  realized. 


126 


CHAPTER  XIV 

WE  were  now  traveling  through  the  de- 
lightful country  along  the  north  bank  of  the 
Cher.  In  the  cliffs  of  soft  stone  beside  the 
roadside,  wine  cellars  were  cut.  It  was  a 
novel  experience  to  see  a  stovepipe  coming 
through  a  flower-bed  or  garden,  indicating  an 
artificial  cave  or  room  beneath. 

Although  the  day  was  chilly  and  forbidding, 
our  hopes  and  expectations  were  high.  We 
were  at  last  on  the  route  of  the  "Lightning 
Conductor,"  —  that  clever  story  blessed  to  the 
heart  of  every  automobilist  in  the  world  and 
to  many  thousands  who  have  not  joined  our 
glorious  company.  From  Montrichard  it  is 
but  a  few  minutes'  ride  until  we  stand  at  the 
gate  leading  up  the  broad,  splendid  tree-lined 
drive  to  Chenonceaux.  We  left  our  car  be- 
neath a  huge  tree  outside  the  handsome  iron 
grilled  gate,  and  with  a  copy  of  the  "  Lightning 
Conductor"  proceeded  up  to  the  donjon,  the 
relics  of  an  old  castle,  on  the  right.  Here  we 
left  our  raincoats  and  other  impedimenta  of 

127 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

travel  preparatory  to  visiting  the  chateau. 
We  also  bought  here  a  collection  of  pictures, 
not  only  of  the  chateau  itself,  but  of  Francis  I 
and  Francis  II,  Mary  Stuart,  Catherine  de 
Medicis,  Diana  of  Poitiers  and  the  other 
leading  actors  on  the  stage  of  their  time,  the 
setting  of  which  we  were  now  about  to  see. 

At  the  threshold  of  the  chateau,  our  party 
was  joined  by  two  charming  American  motor- 
ists, Mr.  and  Mrs.  W.  S.  Gaylord,  of  Chicago. 

Just  at  this  point  I  propose  to  tell  a  story, 
an  incident  of  my  boyhood  hunting  days.  I 
had  a  young  dog  with  long  silky  ears.  One 
bright  winter  morning  we  went  out  to  hunt. 
Presently  a  rabbit  popped  up  and  dashed 
straight  for  an  osage  orange  hedge  fence. 
Now  to  those  farmer  boys  who  are  wise  in 
the  lore  of  fences,  it  is  known  that  this  hedge 
is  full  of  thorns. 

The  rabbit  dashed  through  a  small  opening, 
and  Bre'r  Dog,  nothing  daunted,  followed  hard 
after.  Presently  he  returned  without  the 
rabbit,  and  with  those  beautiful  ears  pricked 
and  torn  and  bleeding.  Soon  another  rabbit 
jumped  up  and  ran  through  this  pernicious 
hedge.  Bre'r  Dog  ran  boldly  up  to  the  hedge, 
stopped,  turned  around,  barked  once,  then 
looked  at  me  with  a  half-foolish,  half-pathetic 

128 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

expression  which  seemed  to  say  quite  as 
plainly  as  words:  Please  excuse  me,  I  am  a 
wiser  and  a  sadder  dog,  and  my  lesson  has 
been  learned.  Hie  fabula  docet,  don't  under- 
take the  hedge  even  the  first  time;  and  I  shall 
not  be  so  unwise  as  to  try  to  describe  Chenon- 
ceaux  or  any  other  place,  person,  or  thing 
which  has  had  its  beauties  illuminated  by  the 
matchless  genius  of  the  authors  of  the  "Light- 
ning Conductor." 

If  you  want  dimensions  and  accurate  his- 
torical facts,  Baedeker  brims  over  with  them. 
If  you  want  to  see  all  these  places  peopled 
with  the  real  living  characters  which  have 
made  them  famous  —  if  you  want  to  walk 
through  the  gardens  and  palaces,  and  breathe 
the  very  atmosphere  of  the  times,  summon  to 
your  side,  as  did  Molly  Randolph,  the  most 
brilliant  historical  imagination  of  our  time, 
and  then  you  will  see  it  all  and  know  it  all 
and  feel  it  all,  as  you  can  in  no  other  way. 

Thus  guided,  we  walked  through  Chenon- 
ceaux.  We  saw  Diana  of  Poitiers  bidding  a 
tearful  farewell  to  the  beautiful  chateau,  taking 
a  last  morning  walk  in  the  gardens  before 
going  away  to  Chaumont.  In  imagination  we 
saw  the  pure-souled  Tasso  repeating  his  verses 
to  the  cruel  Catherine.  We  saw  the  moonlight 

129 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

falling  on  the  Cher,  and  on  the  stone  veranda 
above  it  the  happy  bride  and  groom,  Mary 
Queen  of  Scots  and  Francis  II,  plighting  anew 
their  vows  long  before  the  cruel  shadows  fell 
athwart  their  pathway. 

Reluctantly  I  turned  away  from  Chenon- 
ceaux,  and,  shall  I  confess  it,  a  bit  disappoint- 
edly. 

The  philosophy  of  the  disappointment  will 
develop  later.  On  to  Amboise  was  our  cry,  and 
again  with  "Lightning  Conductor"  in  hand 
we  climbed  the  slope  and  entered  its  gloomy 
portals.  This  imposing  castle  is  located  on 
a  hill.  Its  lofty  walls  and  ramparts  are  de- 
fended by  three  great  round  towers.  We 
stood  on  the  balcony  where  Francis  and  his 
young  bride  and  Catherine  de  Medicis,  who 
was  always  present  when  mischief  was  brew- 
ing, and  others  of  the  royal  household,  wit- 
nessed the  slaughter  in  the  yard  below  of 
more  than  a  thousand  Huguenots.  For  many 
years  this  huge  castle  was  used  as  a  state 
prison,  and  I  could  but  feel  that  it  was  more 
suggestive  of  a  prison  than  a  royal  home. 
The  little  chapel  over  which  Molly  Randolph 
wrote*  so  ecstatically  measures  up  to  her  de- 
scription of  it.  Higher  praise  than  this  can 
no  man  give  it. 

130 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

As  at  Chenonceaux  so  at  Amboise,  I  turned 
away  with  a  shade  of  disappointment. 

The  day  was  far  spent  when  our  good  car 
brought  us  to  the  door  of  the  Hotel  d'Univers 
at  Tours.  In  this  hostelry  made  famous  by  the 
"  Lightning  Conductor,"  we  found  every  cour- 
tesy and  comfort  automobilists  could  desire. 
Sitting  in  the  dining-room  where  Molly  Ran- 
dolph, in  a  sparkling  glass  of  Vouvray,  in  the 
presence  of  her  aunt,  christened  the  one  and 
only  "Lightning  Conductor,"  Brown,  I  heard 
the  charming  story  which  gave  me  the  key  to 
the  secret  power  of  that  book,  and  incidentally 
explained  to  my  own  consciousness  why  I  had 
been  disappointed  at  Chenonceaux  and  Am- 
boise. 

If  these  lines  should  ever  fall  beneath  the 
eyes  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Williamson,  I  am  sure 
they  will  forgive  me,  because  the  world  is 
always  interested  in  knowing  every  incident 
concerning  those  whose  skill  or  literary  genius 
has  charmed  them  for  some  happy  hour  or 
day. 

The  fact  that  this  pretty  story  fell  upon  my 
eager  ears  from  the  lips  of  a  charming  young 
woman,  herself  interested  in  the  place,  added 
not  a  little  to  its  enjoyment. 

One  day  there  drove  up  to  the  hotel  in  a 

131 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

fine  motor-car  a  man  and  a  woman:  he,  a 
fine  type  of  the  stalwart  English  gentleman; 
his  bride,  a  tall,  beautiful,  vivacious,  cultured 
American  girl.  They  were  on  their  honey- 
moon. Both  were  enthusiastic  motorists. 
They  spent  a  week  at  the  hotel,  making  excur- 
sions in  their  car  to  points  of  interest.  Quietly 
they  came,  quietly  they  went  away,  but  when 
they  had  gone,  a  considerable  part  of  the 
material  for  that  superb  story,  "  The  Lightning 
Conductor,"  was  in  hand.  At  this  point  my 
historian  produced  a  copy  of  the  English  edi- 
tion of  the  work,  containing  a  most  excellent 
picture  of  Miss  Randolph,  and  one  of  the 
only  genuine  original  Brown. 

As  I  turned  away  from  this  delightful  tete- 
a-tete,  memory  and  imagination  were  busy, 
and  it  came  to  me  then  why  I  had  been 
disappointed  at  these  chateaux. 

We  get  out  of  everything  in  this  world 
exactly  what  we  put  into  it,  no  more,  no  less. 
Here  were  a  man  and  woman  educated,  cul- 
tured, refined.  The  sunlight  of  the  morning 
was  on  their  countenances,  and  before  them 
stretched  the  whole  world  illuminated  by  the 
spirit  of  Youth  and  Hope. 

But  above  and  surpassing  and  beyond  all 
this,  they  looked  out  upon  life  through  the 

132 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

atmosphere  of  love.  Oh,  there  is  the  secret! 
Small  wonder  then  that  Chenonceaux,  which 
to  the  Wall  Street  business  man  seemed  a 
fairly  respectable  mansion  of  the  second  class, 
should,  to  this  charming  bride's  eyes,  seem  like 
a  beautiful  and  capricious  woman  turned  into 
a  chateau.  Yes,  she  got  much  out  of  all  these 
places,  because  she  put  much  into  them. 
Thus  these  two  clever  spirits  with  glowing 
hearts  visited  the  valley  of  the  Loire  and  saw 
a  shining  chateau  country  which  those  less 
favored  by  the  gods  can  never  know. 

To  their  keen  sympathy  and  quick  imagi- 
nation a  blacksmith  shop  or  a  miner's  hut 
would  still  be  beautiful,  and  if  they  described 
it  in  any  story,  you  and  I  would  count  it  hard- 
ship if  we  could  not  visit  it  the  very  next  day. 

The  city  of  Tours  is  most  interesting.  It 
impresses  one  as  clean,  healthful  —  an  up-to- 
date  business-like  town  of  sixty-five  thousand 
inhabitants.  It  is  located  in  a  fertile  plain  on 
the  banks  of  the  river  Loire.  Its  genial  cli- 
mate and  healthful  surroundings  make  it 
attractive  to  many  English  residents. 

During  the  Franco-Prussian  War,  G  ambetta 
escaped,  September  13,  1870,  from  besieged 
Paris  by  balloon,  and  established  at  Tours  the 
Government  of  National  Defense. 

133 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

One  of  the  great  battles  of  history  was 
fought  at  Tours  —  that  in  which  Charles 
Martel  broke  the  power  and  drove  back  the 
oncoming  horde  of  savage  Saracens  in  732. 
Balzac  the  novelist  was  born  in  the  city  of 
Tours,  1799. 

Its  cathedral  and  other  beautiful  places  I 
cannot  linger  to  describe.  I  can  only  .dis- 
miss Tours  with  the  declaration  that  it  was 
one  of  the  most  satisfying  places  of  our  jour- 
ney. 

From  Tours  to  Blois  is  a  delightful  ride  of 
thirty-six  miles  through  the  Loire  valley.  The 
chateau  was  the  most  gorgeous  of  any  we  had 
visited.  We  were  particularly  interested  in 
the  room  where  the  Duke  of  Guise  was  assas- 
sinated by  order  of  Henri  III,  two  monks 
praying  meanwhile  in  an  adjoining  chamber 
for  the  success  of  the  plot.  We  were  also 
interested  in  the  secret  panel  closet  where 
Catherine  de  Medicis  kept  her  poisons. 

After  a  hasty  visit  to  the  old  Abbey-Church 
of  St.  Nicholas,  the  finest  in  the  city,  built 
1138  to  1210,  we  turned  our  car  towards 
Orleans. 

At  Mer  we  crossed  the  Loire  and  visited  the 
chateau  of  Chainbord.  It  is  situated  in  a 
park  containing  twenty  square  miles,  and 

134 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

surrounded  by  twenty  miles  of  stone  wall. 
It  is  admittedly  one  of  the  finest  palaces  of 
the  Renaissance  in  existence.  It  was  built  in 
1526  by  Pierre  Nepven  for  Francis  I,  whose 
favorite  residence  it  was.  The  chateau  is 
five  hundred  and  twelve  feet  long  and  three 
hundred  and  eighty-five  feet  in  width.  The 
building  is  of  light  stone.  On  each  corner  is 
a  handsome  round  tower,  having  conical  roofs 
surmounted  by  lanterns.  There  are  also 
many  turrets,  pinnacles,  handsome  carved 
chimneys,  besides  moldings  and  sculptures 
beyond  number.  For  example,  there  are 
three  hundred  and  sixty-five  chimneys;  as  one 
of  our  party  facetiously  remarked,  "one  for 
every  day  in  the  year." 

The  double  spiral  staircase  is  most  inter- 
esting. It  is  so  arranged  that  one  may  ascend 
and  another  descend  at  the  same  time  and  not 
meet. 

This  magnificent  castle  contains  four  hun- 
dred and  forty  apartments.  Architecturally, 
I  regard  it  as  one  of  the  finest  productions  ever 
created  by  the  brain  of  man.  There  is  not  a 
single  discordant  note.  It  looms  aloft  into 
the  blue  sky,  with  its  splendid  towers  and  tall 
turrets  and  carved  chimneys  and  proud  pin- 
nacles all  blending  into  one  harmonious  satis- 

135 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

fying  whole,  a  dream  of  beauty  etched  into 
the  soul  forever. 

The  sun  was  falling  rapidly  against  the  west 
when  we  tore  ourselves  away  from  Chambord 
and  with  throttle  wide  open,  on  top  speed, 
started  for  Orleans. 

That  was  an  exhilarating  ride.  Passing 
through  Clery  we  remembered  the  reference  to 
it  in  the  "Lightning  Conductor,"  and  were 
more  than  repaid  by  stopping  to  visit  it.  At 
seven-thirty  we  drove  into  Orleans,  and  were 
soon  satisfying  our  automobilist  appetite, 
which  is  no  small  undertaking.  The  fine 
steak  we  had  that  night  is  one  of  the  mem- 
ories of  our  trip. 

To  us  eager  Americans,  Orleans,  a  city  of 
sixty-seven  thousand  inhabitants,  was  most 
interesting  because  of  its  historical  associa- 
tions. 

Originally  it  was  the  Gallic  town  of  Cena- 
bum,  taken  by  Julius  Caesar  and  burned  in 
52  B.C.  in  revenge  for  the  death  of  some 
Roman  tradesmen.  In  those  days  it  meant 
something  to  be  able  to  say,  "  I  am  a  Roman 
citizen."  The  name  Orleans  came  from  Aure- 
lianum,  which  was  the  name  given  to  the 
town  after  it  had  been  rebuilt  by  the  Roman 
Emperor  Aurelius. 

136 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

The  location  of  Orleans  has  always  ren- 
dered it  a  place  of  great  strategic  importance 
in  Southern  France  and  it  has  often  been 
under  siege. 

In  451  St.  Aignan,  at  that  time  Bishop, 
saved  it  from  the  attack  of  the  great  barbarian 
general  Attila. 

The  greatest  historical  event  in  the  history 
of  the  place,  however,  is  the  siege  by  the 
English  in  1428-29. 

The  student  will  remember  that  this  siege 
was  raised  by  Joan  of  Arc  —  the  Maid  of 
Orleans.  On  May  8  she  forced  the  English 
to  withdraw,  which  event  is  still  celebrated 
on  the  anniversary  of  that  day. 

In  1563  the  Duke  of  Guise  attacked  the 
Huguenots  here.  On  October  11,  1870,  it 
was  captured  by  the  Germans,  retaken  by  the 
French,  and  again  captured  by  the  Germans. 

The  Cathedral  of  St.  Croix,  destroyed  by 
the  Huguenots  in  1567,  was  rebuilt  1601-1827. 
It  is  not  especially  well  spoken  of  by  the  books, 
but  as  a  matter  of  fact  it  is  an  imposing  edifice 
of  the  later  Gothic  style.  On  either  side  arise 
two  massive  towers  two  hundred  and  eighty- 
five  feet  high,  between  which  are  handsome 
portals  surmounted  by  splendid  rose-windows. 
The  length  of  the  church  is  four  hundred  and 

137 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

eighty-five  feet.  Many  of  the  beautiful  stained- 
glass  windows  depict  scenes  from  the  life  of 
the  Maid  of  Orleans. 

The  Hotel  de  Ville  is  an  interesting  building 
erected  in  1530.  At  one  time  it  was  the  King's 
residence,  and  here,  in  the  arms  of  his  devoted 
wife,  died  Francis  II  in  1560. 

In  the  center  of  the  town  is  a  public  square 
containing,  on  a  lofty  granite  pedestal,  a  heroic 
equestrian  statue  of  Joan  of  Arc,  done  in 
imperishable  bronze.  It  is  one  of  the  most 
realistic  productions  I  have  ever  seen.  Every 
line  and  curve  of  Maid  and  Horse  is  sentient 
with  life  and  power  and  action. 

On  the  sides  of  the  huge  pedestal,  on  solid 
bronze  tablets,  are  portrayed  scenes  from  the 
stirring  life  of  Joan  of  Arc.  There  are  depicted 
the  Maid  having  her  vision  in  the  fields,  leading 
her  victorious  army,  her  trial,  and,  last,  the 
cruel  flames  circling  about  her  head  as  her  pure 
soul  took  its  flight  from  its  earthly  tenement. 
Thus  it  is  —  scourged  and  burned  at  the  stake 
by  the  generation  of  to-day,  by  the  generation 
of  to-morrow  crowned  with  laurel  and  com- 
memorated in  lasting  bronze. 

From  Orleans  we  turned  the  bonnet  of  our 
good  motor-car  towards  Paris.  It  was  a 
question  whether  we  should  go  the  route  by 

138 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

Chartres,  in  order  to  visit  the  famous  old 
cathedral  there,  or  take  the  straight  road  for 
the  capital  city.  But  as  we  had  friends  ex- 
pecting us  in  Paris,  as  we  knew  a  "bushel 
of  mail"  awaited  each  one  of  us,  and  as  we 
had  seen  from  one  to  six  churches  and  cathe- 
drals per  day  for  several  weeks,  until  our 
brain  tissue  felt  saturated  with  lofty  towers 
and  solemn  columns  and  "dim  religious 
light,"  we  felt  that  we  could  afford  to  let 
Chartres  go  by  (which  decision  the  Narrator 
frankly  confesses  he  now  regrets)  and  so  took 
the  direct  route  to  Paris. 

Every  good  and  faithful  motor-car  either 
came  from  Paris  or  expects  to  go  there.  All 
of  us  farmer  lads  have  keen  recollections  of 
how  it  used  to  rejuvenate  the  veriest  "old 
plugs"  to  turn  their  heads  homeward.  So 
our  motor-car  seemed  to  know  that  we  were 
at  last  on  the  homeward  stretch.  The  motor 
sang  to  us  that  day  her  cheeriest  song  of 
happiness  and  rich  content.  She  seized  the 
dusty  miles  in  her  clean  teeth  and  literally  ate 
them  up.  The  Master  of  Transportation,  he 
of  mechanical  fame  and  face,  suddenly  began 
a  cruel  parody  on  some  well-known  lines: 

Turn  round  my  wheel,  turn  round  and  spin, 
The  motor-car  is  bound  to  win. 
139 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

In  fact  there  was  not  wanting  evidence  that 
he  was  about  to  burst  into  song.  But  the 
Treasurer  and  the  Historian,  remembering 
another  occasion  on  which  trouble  followed 
his  musical  attempts,  begged,  and  finally 
persuaded,  him  to  desist. 

Our  route  lay  through  a  wonderfully  fertile 
level  plain  much  like  those  the  traveler  sees 
about  Topeka,  Kansas,  or  Watertown,  South 
Dakota,  with  this  difference,  that  every  square 
foot  of  ground  is  cultivated  —  even  as  a 
garden  of  roses.  The  harvests  were  all  gar- 
nered and  the  fall  plowing  had  hardly  begun. 
It  was  the  first  open  day  of  the  hunting  season. 
Pot  hunters  with  their  shotguns  and  fine- 
looking  bird  dogs  swarmed  every  field  and 
highway.  We  found  not  infrequently  that  a 
jolly  party  of  hunters  had  utilized  the  motor- 
car as  a  means  of  transportation  to  convey 
them  to  the  fields.  Arrived  at  the  desired 
location,  the  men  and  dogs  would  beat  the 
field,  the  automobile  meeting  them  on  the 
farther  side. 

In  a  ride  of  eighty  miles  we  saw  groups  of 
huntsmen,  the  total  aggregating  at  least  two 
hundred,  but  we  did  not  observe  that  a  single 
one  had  bagged  even  a  solitary  bird.  We 
concluded  that  the  French  must  be  truly  real 

140 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

sportsmen,  and  that  the  hunting  was  much 
better  than  the  shooting. 

A  few  years  ago  there  was  published  a 
popular  little  volume  entitled  "Ships  that 
Pass  in  the  Night."  The  book  was  as  pathetic 
as  its  title  was  weird  and  suggestive.  The 
antithesis  of  "The  Ships  that  Pass  in  the 
Night"  is  the  "Autos  that  Pass  by  Day." 
You  are  on  a  French  road  —  a  perfect  road; 
your  car  is  bowling  along  say  at  thirty  miles 
per  hour.  You  look  down  that  shining  silver 
pathway  as  straight  as  a  plummet  line  and 
three  miles  away  you  can  see  a  dark  moving 
object.  It  is  a  big  motor-car  with  a  jolly  party 
coming  down  the  highway.  That  car  is  also 
traveling  at  thirty  miles  per  hour.  At  first  it 
is  no  larger  than  a  baby  cart,  but  it  is  grow- 
ing larger  every  second.  A  touch  of  automo- 
biliousness  makes  the  whole  world  kin.  The 
occupants  of  the  car  are  strangers  to  you; 
perhaps  they  hail  from  the  other  side  of  the 
world.  No  difference,  they  are  motorists  and 
you  have  a  common  interest,  a  common  bond 
of  sympathy.  You  wish  them  well.  If  they 
had  even  a  slight  mishap  you  would  be  quick 
to  tender  aid.  They  feel  the  same  toward 
you.  Now  the  cars  are  roaring  at  each  other 
only  a  hundred  rods  apart;  now  a  hundred 

141 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

feet;  now  a  dozen  feet.  It  seems  as  though 
the  monsters  are  vindictively  rushing  at  each 
other  for  a  deadly  conflict.  As  the  cars  pass 
you  catch  a  glimpse  of  happy  faces,  feel  the 
impact  of  a  current  of  air  against  your  cheek, 
and  the  gulf  of  Time  and  Distance  is  widening 
between  you.  A  thrilling  chapter  of  impres- 
sions and  sensations  has  been  registered,  and 
yet  less  than  two  minutes  have  intervened 
since  the  cars  came  in  sight  of  each  other. 

Not  the  least  of  the  joys  of  motoring  is  the 
meeting  of  these  unknown  yet  "kindred  spirits. 
The  Cars  that  Pass  in  the  Day. 

I  suggest  to  all  American  tourists  that 
before  beginning  their  journey  they  join  the 
Touring  Club  of  France.  The  fee  is  a  nomi- 
nal one  and  the  splendid  maps  the  club  fur- 
nishes are  invaluable.  This  club  has  marked 
the  danger  places  on  all  the  roads  in  a  splen- 
did way.  Often  you  come  on  such  warnings  as 
Ralentir  (go  slowly),  Passage  aniveau  (grade 
crossing),  Tournant  brusque  (sharp  turn),  and 
Descente  dangereuse  (dangerous  descent). 

The  shadows  were  slanting  far  to  the 
eastward  when  the  forests  of  St.  Germain 
came  in  sight.  Soon  we  were  threading  its 
narrow  roads  and  then  over  the  rough  paved 
streets  into  Paris. 

142 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

There  may  be  a  decent  roadway  going  into 
Paris,  but  we  did  not  find  it.  It  is  strange, 
when  one  reflects  that  the  city  streets  are  so 
finely  paved  and  the  country  roads  so  perfect, 
that  the  streets  leading  out  of  the  city  should 
be  so  wretched. 

Six  o'clock  found  us  at  our  hotel,  dusty, 
tired,  and  happy.  A  bath  and  fresh  clothing 
prepared  us  to  enjoy  "the  bushel  of  letters" 
from  the  States,  the  congratulations  from 
friends  on  the  happy  conclusion  of  our  long 
journey,  and  their  cordial  invitation  for  dinner. 

Over  our  fragrant  Havanas  that  night  we 
lived  once  more  every  incident  of  our  journey, 
and  decided  that  after  all  one  of  the  joys  of  a 
motor  trip  on  the  continent  is  getting  back 
to  Paris. 


143 


CHAPTER  XV 

A    VISIT    TO    THE    HOME    OF    THE    WINNER    OF 
THE   GORDON-BENNETT    CUP 

PARIS  is  pre-eminently  the  home  of  the 
motor-car.  There  it  is  on  its  native  heath. 
There  are  more  fine  cars  made  in  Paris  and 
its  suburbs  than  in  all  the  rest  of  the  world. 

Before  leaving  the  city  I  determined  to 
visit  one  of  the  representative  French  fac- 
tories. Which  one?  Naturally  I  wished  to 
see  the  best.  The  good  Book  says,  "  By  their 
fruits  ye  shall  know  them."  I  thought  this 
a  good  rule  to  apply  to  the  manufacture  of 
motor-cars.  Judged,  then,  by  what  the  prod- 
uct of  their  factories  had  accomplished, 
there  was  but  one  thing  to  do,  and  that  was 
to  visit  the  Richard-Brasier  works.  This  fa- 
mous car  had  only  a  few  weeks  before  won 
the  international  Gordon-Bennett  cup,  the 
world's  blue  ribbon  of  motordom.  Not  only 
this,  but  the  previous  year  it  had  won  the 
same  trophy  in  Germany.  Thus  two  years 
in  succession  had  this  car  won  the  Gordon- 

144 


WINNER  OF  THE  GORDON-BENNETT  CUP 

Bennett  cup,  a  record  unequaled  by  any  other 
make. 

Naturally,  therefore,  I  was  eager  to  see  the 
home  of  this  great  car.  But  would  I,  a 
stranger,  and  an  American,  be  permitted  to 
go  through  the  factory?  Fortunately  I  hap- 
pened to  notice  in  the  morning  Herald  that 
Mr.  E.  B.  Gallaher,  the  able  American  repre- 
sentative of  the  company,  was  in  Paris.  I 
communicated  to  him  my  desire,  and  he  at 
once  arranged  the  matter  and  later  the  same 
day  escorted  some  American  friends  and  my- 
self to  their  enormous  works  at  Ivry-port. 
Arrived  there,  I  had  the  pleasure  of  meeting 
Messrs.  Brasier  and  Perrot  and  that  great  and 
unsurpassed  driver,  M.  Leon  Thery,  the 
winner  of  two  Gordon-Bennett  races.  These 
gentlemen  were  most  kind.  The  entire  fac- 
tory was  thrown  open  for  my  inspection. 
Carefully  I  observed  every  step  from  the  raw 
material  to  the  finished  product.  Here  I  can 
only  generalize  briefly.  The  first  thing  that 
impressed  me  was  the  character  of  the  em- 
ployees. There  were  nine  hundred  of  as 
bright,  clean-cut,  intelligent-looking  workmen 
as  I  ever  saw  assembled  together.  Many  of 
them  were  trained  experts  and  they  certainly 
looked  the  part.  The  next  point  that  attracted 

145 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

my  attention  was  the  kind  and  quality  of  the 
raw  material.  Nickel  steel  is  expensive.  Some 
of  it,  I  was  informed,  costs  pound  for  pound 
just  about  what  pure  silver  would,  but  nickel 
steel  is  used  in  every  portion  of  the  car 
where  it  is  appropriate  or  possible  for  this 
metal  to  be  used.  This  means  that  the  axles, 
the  knuckles,  the  steering  lever,  the  crank- 
shaft, in  fact  every  part  of  the  car  subjected 
to  great  strain  or  wear,  is  built  of  the  most 
perfect  grade  of  nickel  steel.  Alas,  when  will 
America  learn  that  the  best  material  is  none 
too  good  for  a  car  upon  the  integrity  of  which 
human  life  depends  every  moment  it  is  in  use  ? 
With  such  material  and  such  men  as  I  have  de- 
scribed, there  remains  to  add  only  the  match- 
less genius  of  that  great  engineer,  Brasier,  in 
designing  a  car,  and  you  have  a  combination 
which  is  not  only  superb  but  unequaled. 

I  found  also  that  the  greatest  possible  care 
was  used  in  assembling  the  cars,  and  that  each 
one  was  subjected  to  a  test  more  severe  than 
it  could  ever  meet  in  the  hands  of  a  private 
owner. 

As  I  stood  with  M.  Thery  beside  that  highest 
product  of  human  skill  and  genius  in  motor- 
engine  building  —  the  motor  that  won  the 
Gordon-Bennett  cup  —  I  thought  of  its  mar- 

146 


WINNER  OF  THE  GORDON-BENNETT  CUP 

velous  performance   and  felt  like   lifting  my 
hat  to  that  superb  piece  of  mechanism. 

I  do  not  hesitate  to  say  that  the  best  French 
motor-cars  are  at  present  ahead  of  our  Amer- 
ican product.  In  the  first  place,  the  French 
manufacturers  have  had  much  larger  expe- 
rience than  ours.  Again,  the  German  and 
French  steel  used  has  been  far  superior  to  ours. 
Let  me  quote  America's  foremost  steel  builder, 
Charles  M.  Schwab.  In  a  recent  interview  in 
the  New  York  World  Mr.  Schwab  says : 

"Take  the  automobile  business,  for  instance.  It  is  one 
of  the  largest  and  most  active  phases  of  modern  development. 
It  affects  the  convenience  and  the  pleasure  of  all  civilized 
countries.  It  involves  vast  capital  and  armies  of  workmen. 
Yet  it  is  notorious  that  American  automobiles  have  not 
ranked  as  high  as  European  automobiles. 

"Considering  our  matchless  supply  of  raw  materials  and 
the  energy,  intelligence,  and  practical  ingenuity  of  our  people, 
it  has  puzzled  some  people  to  account  for  our  failure  to  keep 
abreast  of  Europe  in  this  distinctly  modern  industry,  an 
industry  well  adapted  to  our  resources  both  of  men  and 
material. 

"The  truth  is  that  we  have  hitherto  made  no  genuine 
effort  to  produce  forged  steel  working  parts  of  automobiles 
of  the  highest  quality.  That  is  one  of  the  reasons  why  our 
automobiles  have  not  ranked  with  those  of  foreign  make. 

"Why,  in  Germany  this  summer  I  saw  them  making 
automobile  parts  of  the  same  fine  steel  used  in  guns.  Now, 
how  can  our  products  compete  with  that  sort  of  thing  ? 

147 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

"It  is  a  common  saying  that  there  is  no  demand  for  high 
quality  in  this  country;  that  there  is  no  market  sufficient  to 
justify  first-class  standards  in  manufacture. 

"Let  us  see.  When  I  returned  from  Germany,  not  so 
many  weeks  ago,  I  had  a  large  shop  for  the  making  of  high- 
grade  forged  automobile  parts  set  up  beside  the  Bethlehem 
Steel  Works.  What  I  had  seen  in  Germany  was  the  decisive 
influence  in  a  long  considered  project.  I  could  see  no  reason 
why  the  United  States  should  not  attempt  to  take  the  lead 
in  the  manufacture  of  automobiles. 

"What  is  the  result?  We  already  have  orders  for  the 
full  capacity  of  that  shop  for  a  year  ahead,  and  my  manager 
informs  me  that  the  plant  must  be  quadrupled  in  size  if  we 
are  to  take  care  of  the  business  in  sight. 

"That  seems  to  me  to  be  a  practical  and  complete  answer 
to  the  claim  that  it  does  not  pay  to  turn  out  the  highest  type 
of  finished  product  in  this  country." 

In  view  of  the  kind  and  quality  of  material 
Mr.  Schwab  is  now  making,  our  manufac- 
turers will  ultimately  be  able  to  equal  the 
French  product.  Indeed,  I  believe  the  car 
of  the  future  will  be  built  in  this  country  and 
it  will  be  the  product  of  American  skill, 
American  genius,  and  American  enterprise. 

Indeed,  since  the  above  chapter  was  written 
a  prominent  French  manufacturer  has  volun- 
teered to  me  his  opinion  that  there  are  to-day 
four  American  manufacturers  whose  products 
are  equal  to  those  of  any  foreign  make. 


148 


CHAPTER  XVI 

MAN'S   ANCIENT   FOES 

SINCE  man's  existence  on  the  earth  Time 
and  Space  have  been  his  uiiconquered  ene- 
mies. All  the  powers  of  the  human  intellect 
have  been  arrayed  against  them.  Man's 
latest  weapon  of  assault  is  the  automobile. 
The  automobile  is  both  an  evolution  and  the 
material  expression  of  a  revolution. 

The  primordial  germ  of  the  modern  auto- 
mobile was  born  on  the  banks  of  the  Ganges 
six  thousand  years  ago.  The  first  type  was 
a  crude  axle  on  either  end  of  which  was  a 
rough  wooden  wheel  chopped  by  a  stone  ax 
from  a  huge  log.  It  is  a  far  cry  from  that 
rough  wooden  ox-cart  of  our  ancestors  to  that 
last  word  of  engineering  skill,  as  represented 
by  the  winner  of  the  Gordon-Bennett  race, 
the  Richard-Brasier  motor-car. 

"  Life  has  not  many  better  things  than  this," 
said  the  fat  Dr.  Samuel  Johnson  a  century 
and  a  half  ago,  as  he  leaned  back  in  the 
luxurious  upholstery  of  an  old-fashioned  Eng- 

140 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

lish  chaise.  Living  at  that  very  moment  in 
that  very  town  of  Litchfield,  England,  was 
Dr.  Erasmus  Darwin,  a  friend  of  Dr.  John- 
son, who  went  about  practising  medicine 
among  his  patients  in  a  sulky.  Dr  Darwin's 
imagination  conjured  up  the  image  of  a  chariot 
propelled  by  steam  which  would  take  him 
about  rapidly  and  comfortably.  A  generation 
before  this  —  one  hundred  and  eighty-three 
years  ago  —  the  great  religious  mystic  and 
teacher,  Swedenborg,  wrote  to  his  brother  that 
he  would  build  a  harp  that  could  be  played 
by  pounding  keys;  that  he  would  build  a  boat 
that  would  sail  under  water  and  destroy  the 
enemies'  ships;  that  he  would  invent  a  gun 
that  would  fire  a  thousand  bullets  a  minute, 
and  that  he  would  build  a  carriage  that  would 
run  without  horses  twenty  miles  per  hour. 
Those  vagaries  of  a  dreamer  have  become  the 
realities  of  to-day. 

Going  back  still  farther,  —  or  two  hundred 
and  fifty  years  ago,  —  Sir  Isaac  Newton  had 
dreamed  of  a  self-propelled  vehicle  that  would 
far  exceed  the  horse-drawn  chariot,  but  the 
thought  of  these  men  had  forged  ahead  of  their 
times.  The  earliest  record  of  a  self-propelled 
vehicle  is  a  carving  on  one  of  the  old  Egyp- 
tian monuments.  A  horseless  chariot  is  shown, 

150 


MAN'S  ANCIENT  FOES 

apparently  being  driven  by  a  repellent  jet  of 
steam. 

Centuries  later  one  of  the  Roman  emperors 
had  a  curious  car  driven  by  a  system  of  wheels 
and  springs.  Slaves  ran  along  beside  it  and 
wound  up  the  propelling  mechanism. 

Mr.  W.  J.  Lampton  is  authority  for  the 
interesting  facts  which  follow:  The  first  prac- 
tical horseless  vehicle  to  go  by  its  own  power 
on  land  was  invented  in  1769  by  Nicholas  J. 
Cugnot,  a  French  army  officer,  the  primary 
object  of  which  was  for  use  as  a  gun  carriage. 
At  its  first  trial  it  ran  away,  butted  into  a 
stone  fence  and  turned  over.  A  second  carriage 
was  made,  but  it  was  not  practical  and  it  may 
be  seen  to-day  in  a  Paris  museum.  Very 
little  progress  was  made  during  the  next  sixty 
years,  but  in  1830  an  Englishman  by  the 
name  of  Walter  Hancock  built  several  car- 
riages, one  called  the  Automaton,  another 
called  the  Autopsy  (which  latter  name  is  very 
suggestive).  These  cars  ran  for  several  months 
between  Stratford,  Paddington,  and  Islington, 
covering  a  distance  of  over  four  thousand 
miles  and  carrying  more  than  twelve  thousand 
passengers,  but  prejudice  and  bad  roads 
proved  too  much  for  these  cars.  The  iron 
track  for  the  railway  was  constructed  and  this 

151 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

became  the  death-blow  to  the  motor-car  as 
built  by  Hancock  in  England  and  as  designed 
and  operated  by  Oliver  Evans  in  America. 
Mr.  Evans  in  1786  secured  from  the  Maryland 
Legislature  the  right  to  operate  his  steam- 
carriages  on  the  roads  of  that  state.  This  is 
certainly  the  first  automobile  legislation  in  the 
western  world.  Mr.  Evans,  the  first  American 
automobilist,  was  born  in  Newport,  Delaware. 
I  quite  agree  with  Mr.  Lampton  in  the  sug- 
gestion that  the  automobilists  of  America 
should  erect  a  monument  to  his  memory. 

The  steam  carriage  had  reached  such  a 
point  of  perfection  that  when  a  suitable  road- 
way was  provided  it  was  easy  and  natural  to 
combine  the  two,  and  from  the  opening  of  the 
Baltimore  and  Ohio  Railroad  on  the  4th  of 
July,  1828,  the  development  of  railroads  in 
America  began  and  the  automobile  was 
dropped ;  however,  the  needs  of  the  people  for 
better  means  of  travel  over  the  highway  could 
not  be  forever  suppressed.  After  sixty  years 
of  inactivity,  in  1888  the  French  began  to  turn 
out  self-propelled  vehicles.  The  pneumatic 
tire  was  not  forthcoming  until  two  years  later. 
About  the  year  1893  the  first  American  ma- 
chines were  produced.  Progress  was  slow 
and  as  late  as  1899  there  were  not  over  fifty 

152 


MAN'S  ANCIENT  FOES 

automobiles  in  the  United  States.  Since  then 
the  development  of  the  new  industry  has  been 
rapid,  and  in  1902  there  were  twelve  thousand 
motor-cars  in  this  country.  The  number  of 
automobiles  in  the  United  States  to-day  is 
approximately  seventy  thousand,  representing 
in  value  probably  seventy  millions  of  dollars. 
The  United  States  leads  the  world  in  the 
number  of  automobiles  manufactured.  Every 
civilized  ruler  of  a  great  nation,  including 
King  Edward,  the  Czar,  Emperor  William, 
and  the  President  of  France,  are  devotees  of 
the  sport.  The  exception  is  President  Roose- 
velt; but  President  Roosevelt  is  too  good  a 
sportsman  to  long  withstand  the  temptation. 
The  automobile  has  gone  all  over  the  world. 
As  Mr.  Lampton  strikingly  puts  it:  "The 
traveler  may  find  an  automobile  to  take  him 
to  the  shadow  of  the  Pyramids,  and  a  line  of 
automobiles  extends  from  Jaffa  to  Jerusalem. 
They  have  crossed  the  Alps  and  the  Cordil- 
leras, they  have  tracked  the  sands  of  Sahara, 
they  have  rattled  over  the  streets  of  three 
thousand  years  old  Damascus,  they  have 
climbed  the  Chinese  wall  of  obstruction,  they 
have  gone  into  regions  of  ice  and  sun,  and 
they  are  following  the  equator  and  heading 
for  the  North  Pole." 

153 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

Going  back  to  the  original  proposition,  I 
desire  to  emphasize  it;  viz.,  that  Time  and 
Space  are  the  inevitable  enemies  of  man. 
Let  us  analyze  the  situation.  The  human 
mind  has  always  been  in  revolt  against  the 
limitations  of  the  body.  The  more  intelligent 
the  mind,  the  greater  the  revolt.  A  sponge  is 
satisfied  to  grow  on  a  rock  and  be  content 
with  the  food  which  drifts  over  it,  but  not  so 
with  that  trinity  of  being  we  call  man.  He 
is  constantly  going  somewhere  or  wanting  to 
go  somewhere.  This  impulse  characterizes 
the  tribe,  the  race  as  well  as  the  individual. 

"Westward  the  course  of  Empire  takes  its  way; 

The  four  first  Acts  already  past, 
A  fifth  shall  close  the  Drama  with  the  day: 
Time's  noblest  offspring  is  the  last." 

The  constant  effort  of  the  intellect  has  been 
to  forge  weapons  to  place  in  the  physical  pos- 
session of  man  in  order  that  he  may  conquer 
his  old  enemies, ---Time  and  Space.  How 
does  this  effort  find  expression  ? 

What  is  the  electric  telegraph  but  the  length- 
ening of  the  human  arm  and  fingers  until  a 
man  writes  his  messages  across  the  length  of 
a  continent  or  over  the  width  of  the  un- 
f  athomed  sea  ?  What  is  the  telephone  but  the 
enlargement  of  the  capacity  of  the  human  ear 

154 


MAN'S  ANCIENT  FOES 

until  the  sound  of  the  voice  is  distinctly  heard 
across  two  thousand  miles  of  space  ?  What  is 
the  telescope  but  the  multiplication  of  the 
power  of  the  eye  by  which  distant  worlds  are 
brought  so  near  that  a  baby's  hand  can  almost 
touch  them  ?  These  triumphs  are  some  of  the 
outposts  which  have  been  captured  from  our 
enemies,  and  part  of  their  dominion  has  been 
conquered.  In  these  realms  Time  and  Space 
are  already  annihilated.  Disturbed  but  not 
disheartened  still  sit,  however,  our  old  ene- 
mies on  their  throne  in  the  center  of  the 
citadel.  How  then  shall  not  only  an  eye,  an 
ear,  a  hand,  but  the  whole  physical  man,  best 
strive  to  conquer  Time  and  Space  ?  Back  in 
the  days  of  old  civilization  were  the  swift- 
footed  runners,  and  marvelous  was  the  speed 
they  attained;  then  the  horse  with  its  flight 
as  swift  as  the  wind.  For  a  thousand  years 
the  world  slumbered  until  the  young  boy  Watt 
saw  and  understood  how  the  teakettle  lid  was 
lifted  from  its  place.  It  was  a  quick  evolution 
to  the  steam-car  on  rails  and  the  thundering 
lightning  express.  Next  came  the  bicycle, 
which  turned  men  into  human  swallows,  so 
swiftly  did  they  skim  the  air.  Each  one  of 
these  epochs  was  a  distinct  step  towards  the 
annihilation  of  Time  and  Space,  but  it  was 

155 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

reserved  for  the  twentieth  century,  the  best 
of  all  the  centuries,  to  see  a  New  Richmond  in 
the  field.  It  is  the  modern  motor-car,  the  last 
product  of  mechanical  man's  highest  endeavor, 
to  conquer  Time  and  annihilate  Distance. 

A  mile  in  twenty-eight  and  one-fifth  seconds, 
the  record  made  by  Mr.  Frederick  Marriott 
at  Ormond  Beach,  marks  a  new  and  memo- 
rable epoch  in  the  flight  of  the  individual. 
This,  too,  when  automobiling  is  yet  in  its 
swaddling  clothes.  What  may  we  not  expect 
when  it  shall  have  attained  to  the  stature  of 
the  full-grown  man  ? 

I  cannot  do  better  at  this  point  than  repro- 
duce a  striking  editorial  from  a  recent  issue  of 
the  New  York  Sun,  entitled 

THE  SHOES  OF  SWIFTNESS 

"Man  has  to  acknowledge  himself  to  be  a  primitive 
vehicle  by  the  side  of  the  tremendous  automobile.  He  may 
have  come  up  from  all  fours,  he  has  improved  his  personal 
means  of  transportation  to  that  extent.  These  new  creations 
transcend  already  the  most  fantastic  dreams  of  the  story- 
maker.  The  domestication  of  the  horse  was  the  greatest 
jump  of  civilization  for  many  ages.  But  what  are  those 
'  daughters  of  steeds  swift  as  the  storm '  to  these  new  devourers 
of  space  and  conquerers  of  time  ?  Already  the  auto  prepares 
to  ride  triumphant  the  azure  depths  of  air;  and  the  ultimate 
pole  may  be  reached  some  time  by  motor  skis. 

"It  is  a  very  few  years  since  New  Yorkers  saw  the  first 
156 


MAN'S  ANCIENT  FOES 

automobiles  with  about  the  same  curiosity  with  which  the 
Akka  pigmies  would  look  upon  a  steamboat.  Now  they  dash 
over  the  world.  They  are  mighty  carriers  of  freight.  They 
are  omnibuses.  They  may  yet  monopolize  the  trucking 
business.  With  the  improvement  of  the  roads  they  will 
enter  more  and  more  into  widely  useful,  practical  activities. 
The  rural  letter-carrier  will  scoot  along  on  his  motor-cycle. 
The  ridiculous  system  of  transportation  of  the  mails  in 
American  cities  by  eocene  plugs  must  yield  to  these  irresistible 
superior  forces.  They  run  to  fires.  Already  they  do  duty 
as  patrol  wagons.  There  are  toy  baby  automobiles,  we 
believe,  and  there  may  yet  be  electric  and  gasolene  hearses. 

"  If  chiefly  developed  as  yet  as  pleasure  carriages  for  the 
wealthy  and  well-to-do,  they  are  at  least  a  healthy  out-of-door 
pleasure;  and  in  spite  of  enormous  progress  in  their  construc- 
tion, they  are  still  in  the  infant  class.  The  prejudice  they 
have  to  meet  is  mild,  after  all,  to  that  which  raged  against 
the  first  locomotives.  The  excessive  racing  spirit  of  a  few 
owners,  the  recklessness  and  brutality  of  a  few  drivers,  are 
only  the  expected  dose  of  evil  which  comes  with  every  new 
momentous  application  of  power.  To  compare  small  things 
with  great,  one  does  not  have  to  be  venerable  to  remember 
when  bicyclers  were  regarded  as  a  nuisance  and  a  curse  with 
a  passion  for  manslaughter.  The  human  nerves  have  not 
yet  become  thoroughly  adjusted  to  the  use  of  these  shoes  of 
swiftness. 

"A  great  and  growing  industry  has  sprung  into  life.  A 
large  capital  and  a  large  force  of  skilled  workmen  are  em- 
ployed. The  American  manufacturers  are  turning  out  more 
and  better  machines  every  year.  The  automobile  industry 
is  going  ahead  with  much  of  the  energy  of  the  impetuous 
machine  itself;  and  yet  it  is  only  the  beginning." 

157 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

A  few  months  ago  there  occurred  in  New 
York  city,  under  the  auspices  of  the  Automobile 
Club  of  America,  the  first  competitive  pub- 
lic service  test  of  American-built  commercial 
motor- vehicles.  Seventeen  delivery  wagons 
were  placed  in  actual  practical  service  of  the 
Adams  Express  Company  for  the  period  of 
one  week;  fifteen  of  them  survived  the  ordeal 
and  performed  the  allotted  task  rapidly,  safely, 
and  economically. 

But  why  is  a  motor-vehicle  better  than  a 
horse-drawn  one?  I  cannot  do  better  in 
this  connection  than  to  quote  the  words  of 
a  keen  "Observer"  from  an  article  in  the 
Automobile  Magazine,  entitled 

WHY  IT  CAN'T  LOSE 

The  points  of  superiority  upon  which  the  motor-propelled 
commercial  vehicle  makes  its  claims  for  superiority  over  the 
horse-drawn  conveyance  to  a  progressive  age  and  people 
are  briefly  as  follows: 

It  is  considerably  cheaper  for  transport. 

It  is  more  expeditious  in  delivery  of  goods. 

It  has  a  larger  range  of  action. 

It  is  a  first-class  advertising  medium. 

It  can  work  at  its  maximum  all  day,  every  day,  and  even 
longer  if  necessary. 

It  can  do  more  work  than  any  horse,  and  a  single  car 
can  replace,  in  fact,  as  many  as  seven  horses.  It  does 
not  require  days  of  rest  between  two  hard  days'  work. 

158 


MAN'S  ANCIENT  FOES 

When  not  in  use  it  requires  practically  no  attention  and  no 
keep. 

It  only  takes  fuel  when  actually  working,  and  does  not 
eat  its  head  off  in  the  stables;  after  standing  without  work 
it  is  not  given  to  being  frisky  and  hence  dangerous  to  property 
and  life.  With  a  car  work  can  be  done  at  the  highest  pres- 
sure, and  no  charge  of  cruelty  to  animals  can  be  brought  in. 

The  fuel  used  is  to  do  useful  work,  and  the  work  done  is  a 
measure  of  the  cost. 

The  speed  can  be  accelerated  in  case  of  need  to  at  least 
four  times  that  of  the  horse. 

It  does  not  die  suddenly. 

It  can  be  manipulated  with  much  greater  ease  and  cer- 
tainty, and  in  cases  of  emergency  can  be  stopped  in  a  space 
equal  to  its  own  length  when  traveling  at  a  speed  of  ten  miles 
per  hour,  without  excessive  exertion  on  the  part  of  the  driver. 

Only  half  the  room  is  required  in  traffic,  it  can  be  manipu- 
lated more  readily  than  any  horse,  and  can  travel  safely  at 
.  four  times  the  animal's  speed.  Thus  it  will  be  seen  that  if 
motor  traffic  were  universal  in  our  large  cities,  the  street 
obstruction  problem  would  be  solved  and  blockades  cease 
to  exist. 

Less  damage  to  the  roads,  since  with  the  car  the  action  is  a 
rolling  one,  and  tends  to  smooth  and  level  the  surface  instead 
of  breaking  it  up,  as  the  pounding  action  of  horse's  hoofs 
must  always  do.  The  enormous  charges  on  the  taxpayers 
for  street  repairs  and  cleaning  would  be  considerably  re- 
duced. 

Mud  and  dust  accumulations  would  be  considerably 
reduced. 

More  sanitary,  as  unburnt  gasolene  vapor  and  lubricating 
oil  are  gaseous,  innoxious,  and  quickly  disappear,  while  the 

159 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

solid  excretions  of  the  horse  are  permanent,  unsanitary,  and 
dangerous  to  human  life. 

Less  attention  and  stabling  cost. 

Less  storage  room,  and  no  manure  heaps. 

It  does  not  run  away,  kick,  or  shy  at  strange  objects  or 
passing  trains. 

Can  any  one  deny  the  modesty  or  the  truthfulness  of  the 
foregoing  claims  or,  admitting  them,  question  the  certainty 
of  the  motor-car's  speedy  and  complete  triumph  in  the  realm 
where  so  many  years  the  horse  has  been  supreme  ? 

Let  us  now  consider  some  of  the  modern 
problems  which  the  motor-car  will  solve. 

First.  The  congestion  of  traffic  in  our  city 
streets. 

What  would  it  mean  to  the  city  of  New 
York  if  all  the  horse-drawn  vehicles  could  be 
supplanted  by  motor- vehicles  ? 

In  the  first  place,  the  space  occupied  by  the 
horses  would  be  saved,  —  thus  practically 
doubling  the  width  of  our  streets;  second,  the 
motor-car  would  carry  double  the  load  in  hah* 
the  time,  thus  again  doubling  the  width  of 
the  street;  third,  the  city  would  be  clean  and 
sanitary  and  healthful.  Indeed,  I  believe  the 
automobile  is  the  key,  and  the  only  key,  to 
the  solution  of  the  problem  of  over-congested 
traffic  in  our  city  streets. 

Second.  It  will  solve  the  problem  of  over- 
crowding in  the  tenement-house  district. 

160 


MAN'S  ANCIENT  FOES 

Automobiles  will  become  cheap  when  manu- 
factured in  enormous  numbers,  following  the 
course  of  the  bicycle.  The  laboring  man, 
when  the  factory  whistle  blows  and  the  work 
of  the  day  is  done,  will  step  into  his  own  car 
and  in  an  hour's  time  be  twenty  miles  away  in 
the  country  beneath  the  blue  sky,  breathing 
God's  pure  air,  listening  to  the  music  of  the 
murmuring  brook  and  the  singing  birds.  He 
will  have  his  own  little  plot  of  ground,  where 
he  will  raise  his  vegetables  and  flowers  and 
bring  up  his  family  in  peace  and  plenty.  Be- 
cause of  these  healthful  surroundings  his  chil- 
dren will  grow  up  to  be  happier,  better,  and 
more  intelligent  and  patriotic  citizens  than 
would  be  possible  under  tenement-house  con- 
ditions. 

This  happy  result  is  to  come  about  through 
the  modern  motor-car. 

Third.  The  motor-car  will  become  an  im- 
portant factor  in  checking  the  tendency  in 
rural  districts  for  young  people  to  leave  their 
homes  and  flock  to  the  city. 

This  is  a  problem  which  is  causing  the 
thinkers  of  our  country  great  anxiety.  I  think 
no  one  knows  better  than  I  the  awful  loneli- 
ness and  desolation  of  the  isolated  farmhouse, 
miles  away  from  towns  and  villages.  I  was 

161 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

reared  on  a  farm  in  the  middle  West  and  know 
that  through  the  long  dreary  months  of  winter 
the  farmer  boy  is  virtually  a  prisoner  on 
account  of  the  bad  condition  of  the  roads  and 
the  inadequate  facilities  for  getting  about  from 
place  to  place.  The  bicycle  has  done  much 
for  the  improvement  of  our  roads;  the  auto- 
mobile is  doing  much  and  it  will  do  more. 
Make  the  roads  good  and  the  farmer  boy  with 
his  low-priced  automobile  will  be  able  to  break 
the  prison  bars  and  go  out  into  the  adjoining 
counties,  visiting  his  fellows,  holding  personal 
intercourse  with  them,  thereby  becoming  more 
alert,  more  cheerful,  and  more  contented  with 
his  home. 

Fourth.  The  automobile  is  to  become  a 
powerful  factor  in  the  promotion  of  Good 
Roads. 

The  motor-car  is  practically  useless  unless 
it  has  good  roads  upon  which  to  travel.  The 
automobilist  is  a  live  citizen  and  he  will  agitate 
this  question  until  the  people  will  become 
educated  to  an  appreciation  of  the  advantages 
of  good  roads,  and  then  they  will  come. 

Fifth.  The  automobile  is  to  emancipate 
the  horse. 

A  story  is  told  of  an  old  white-headed 
country  darky  who  visited  New  Orleans 

162 


MAN'S  ANCIENT  FOES 

shortly  after  the  mule-drawn,  ramshackle 
street-cars  had  been  supplanted  by  the  electric 
trolley.  Standing  on  the  street  corner,  Uncle 
Sambo,  in  open-eyed  astonishment,  saw  the 
street-car  move  off.  Reflecting  a  moment  he 
ejaculated,  with  his  eyes  turned  heavenward: 
"Bress  de  Lawd.  De  white  man  freed  de 
niggah,  now  he  done  freed  de  mule."  If  there 
were  no  other  argument  for  the  self-propelled 
vehicle  than  that  suggested  by  the  existence 
of  the  Society  for  the  Prevention  of  Cruelty  to 
Animals,  it  would  be  enough.  The  horse, 
man's  best  friend,  is  to  be  free.  The  day  of 
his  emancipation  draweth  nigh,  when 

Horse-drawn  carts  are  seen  no  longer, 
And  the  poor  dumb  beast  is  freed, 
And  the  motor-car  has  conquered 
Price  and  prejudice  and  greed. 

Sixth.  The  automobile  will  do  much  to 
annihilate  Time  and  Space  and  will  greatly 
increase  our  knowledge  of  our  own  country. 

That  distinguished  American  citizen  and 
fine  sportsman,  Judge  James  B.  Dill,  was  the 
first  to  penetrate  the  Maine  woods  with  a 
motor-car.  He  states  that  by  the  use  of  his 
automobile  he  has  been  enabled  to  visit  de- 
lightful quaint  out-of-the-way  places,  become 
acquainted  with  the  people,  and  acquire 

163 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

knowledge  of  various  phases  of  American  life 
possible  in  no  other  way. 

Mayor  Weaver  —  America's  most  popular 
mayor  —  says  that  in  a  single  year's  use  of 
the  automobile  he  has  learned  more  of  the 
outlying  country  within  forty  or  fifty  miles  of 
Philadelphia  than  he  had  in  his  whole  previous 
life. 

In  the  use  of  the  automobile,  especially 
those  of  the  electric  type,  many  ladies  have 
become  skilful  and  enthusiastic  devotees.  As 
an  illustration,  Mrs.  W.  E.  Scarritt,  of  East 
Orange,  New  Jersey,  has  driven  her  Wa- 
verly  seventeen  thousand  miles  without  the 
slightest  accident  or  mishap  to  any  one. 

Seventh.  The  automobile  may  revolution- 
ize methods  of  farming. 

Speaking  at  a  banquet  one  time,  I  had  been 
holding  forth  on  my  favorite  theme  and  glori- 
fying the  automobile.  The  Toastmaster  said : 
"The  last  speaker  is  an  enthusiast.  He  has 
claimed  about  everything  for  the  automobile 
except  that  it  would  make  two  blades  of  grass 
to  grow  instead  of  one." 

When  he  had  taken  his  seat  I  arose,  and 
begging  pardon  for  the  omission,  called  atten- 
tion to  the  fact  that  some  recent  experiments 
had  been  made  near  Washington,  upon  the 

164 


MAN'S  ANCIENT  FOES 

Potomac  Flats,  which  are  covered  by  a  rank 
growth  of  weeds.  These  experiments  were 
conducted  by  the  Agricultural  Department  of 
the  United  States  Government.  A  steam  auto- 
mobile had  been  constructed  to  drag  a  harrow 
with  hollow  iron  teeth.  These  hollow  teeth 
were  connected  by  rubber  pipes  with  the  boiler 
in  such  a  way  that  superheated  steam  was 
injected  into  the  soil.  The  result  was  that 
every  weed  in  the  ground  was  killed  and  the 
chemical  action  on  the  soil  was  such  that  it 
became  much  more  fertile  and  produced 
double  the  crop  it  had  previously,  so  that 
literally  this  steam-car  caused  two  blades  of 
grass  to  grow  where  there  was  but  one  before. 

The  results  of  this  experiment  are  very  sug- 
gestive and  open  up  a  very  interesting  field  of 
possibilities.  Who  knows  but  that  the  farmer, 
utilizing  superheated  steam,  may  yet  be  able 
to  inject  into  the  soil  not  only  that  which 
destroys  obnoxious  weeds,  but  by  the  same 
operation  chemicals  as  fertilizers,  in  the  exact 
proportions  needed  to  produce  precisely  the 
crop  wanted.  Farming  will  then  be  reduced 
to  an  exact  science  and  the  husbandman  will 
order  his  crops  of  the  kind  and  quality  he 
wishes,  just  as  he  now  orders  a  suit  of  clothes. 

The  above  are  only  a  few  of  the  things  the 

165 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

motor-car  will  accomplish.  I  do  not  believe 
the  wildest  dreamer  of  us  all  has  begun  to 
comprehend  what  this  new  force  is  to  do  for 
civilization. 

The  imagination  staggers  and  falls  back 
upon  itself  at  the  impossible  task,  and  I  cannot 
better  close  this  chapter  than  by  paraphrasing 
the  remarks  of  Professor  Tyndall  on  another 
subject  before  the  British  Scientific  Associa- 
tion a  few  years  ago: 

"  But  here  I  must  quit  a  theme  too  great  for 
me  to  handle,  but  which  will  be  handled  by  the 
loftiest  minds  ages  after  you  and  I,  like  streaks 
of  morning  cloud,  have  melted  into  the  infinite 
azure  of  the  past." 


166 


CHAPTER  XVII 

THE  AUTOMOBILE  OF  THE  FUTURE 

The  chariots  shall  rage  in  the  streets,  they  shall  jostle 
one  against  another  in  the  broad  ways;  they  shall  seem  like 
torches,  they  shall  run  like  the  lightnings.  —  Nahum  ii.  4. 

IN  the  foreword  to  this  little  volume  the 
author  sought  to  define  what  in  the  last  analysis 
the  motor-car  really  is,  viz. :  a  segregation  of  a 
little  part  of  the  giant  forces  of  Nature  har- 
nessed to  man's  individual  chariot.  There  is 
no  plummet  line  to  measure  this  last  triumph 
of  human  skill.  The  automobile  industry  has 
grown  with  amazing  rapidity.  Five  years  ago 
there  was  in  this  country  one  automobile  to 
every  fifteen  hundred  thousand  inhabitants; 
two  years  ago  there  was  one  to  every  sixty-five 
hundred;  to-day  there  is  one  to  every  twelve 
hundred,  and  by  the  close  of  1906  there  will 
be  one  motor  vehicle  to  every  eight  hundred 
inhabitants. 

Undoubtedly  the  great  future  of  the  auto- 
mobile industry  is  in  the  enormous  field  of  the 
commercial  vehicle.  One  uses  his  pleasure 

167 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

car  when  the  weather  is  fine,  or  he  feels  the 
need  of  fresh  air,  or  the  mood  to  be  going 
seizes  him.  But  "the  butcher,  the  baker,  the 
candlestick  maker"  must  come  to  our  door 
every  day,  rain  or  shine.  The  best  brains  in 
the  business  are  trying  to  devise  a  practical 
car  at  low  cost  that  will  do  just  this  thing. 

In  the  line  of  pleasure  vehicles,  up  to  the 
present  hour,  there  are  handicaps  which  have 
greatly  restricted  its  use.  In  the  first  place, 
the  initial  cost  has  been  too  great  for  the 
general  public.  It  is  only  the  exceptional 
individual  that  can  afford  to  pay  from  one 
thousand  dollars  upwards  for  a  car  carrying 
four  people.  But  after  the  car  is  acquired, 
like  the  man  that  got  married,  the  owner  is 
at  the  end  of  his  troubles  —  the  beginning  end. 
The  repair  bills  are  the  thing  which  tends  to 
bankrupt  an  automobile  owner  spiritually  as 
well  as  financially.  Fragile  material  is  used. 
Under  the  terrible  strain  of  traveling  over  our 
vile  American  roads  something  quickly  gives 
way.  Some  of  our  manufacturers  charge  from 
four  hundred  to  twelve  hundred  per  cent  profit 
for  supplying  and  attaching  a  broken  part. 
That  the  industry,  under  such  terrible  handi- 
cap, not  only  survives  but  actually  prospers, 
is  conclusive  evidence  of  its  wonderful  inherent 

168 


THE  AUTOMOBILE  OF  THE  FUTURE 

vitality.  Again,  our  motor-cars  have  not  been 
reliable.  They  could  not  be  depended  upon. 
When  a  man  takes  hold  of  the  knob  of  his 
office  door  he  knows  that  year  in  and  year  out 
the  knob  will  perform  its  proper  function. 
When  the  housewife  sits  down  to  her  sewing- 
machine  she  knows  that  hardly  once  in  a 
thousand  times  will  it  refuse  to  do  its  work 
and  do  it  well.  Can  we  say  so  much  for 
our  automobiles  ?  Unreliable  is  an  indict- 
ment to  which  our  cars  must  too  often  plead 
guilty. 

Mr.  Thomas  A.  Edison,  "the  wizard  of 
the  twentieth  century,"  is  greatly  interested  in 
automobiles.  Mr.  Edison  will  yet  lay  the 
world  under  as  great  a  debt  of  gratitude  to 
him  for  his  electric  storage  battery  as  he  did 
for  the  electric  light.  Mr.  Edison  points  out 
a  strange  paradox  in  the  automobile,  viz.: 
the  thing  which  has  made  the  motor-car  pos- 
sible is  its  weakest  point  —  the  pneumatic 
tire. 

Mr.  George  F.  Chamberlin,  one  of  America's 
most  honored  pioneer  automobilists,  without 
a  record  of  whose  work  the  true  history  of 
automobiling  in  America  could  not  be  written, 
puts  the  tire  question  in  a  most  striking  way. 
He  says: 

169 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

"Aside  from  the  annoyance  of  tire  punctures, 
consider  what  the  annual  cost  is  per  wheel  for 
keeping  shod  a  motor-car  of  even  moderate 
power!  For  a  heavy  car  an  outer  shoe  and 
an  inner  tube  will  cost  sixty-two  and  a  half 
dollars.  The  life  of  these  will  not  exceed  one 
year  of  constant  service  even  on  good  roads. 
For  the  four  wheels,  then,  a  sum  of  two  hun- 
dred and  fifty  dollars  is  required.  That 
means,  at  the  least  calculation,  to  take  care  of 
the  four  wheels  of  a  motor-car,  the  income 
from  an  investment  of  five  thousand  dollars 
at  five  per  cent.  How  many  men  in  a  com- 
munity can  afford  any  such  expense  for  the 
upkeep  of  wheels  alone? 

"Perhaps  some  day  we  may  be  freed  from 
the  grip  of  a  Tire  Trust  and  prices  may 
become  liveable,  yes,  possibly  reasonable." 

We  in  America  have  done  a  lot  of  foolish 
things  in  motor-car  building,  but  we  are  com- 
ing towards  saner  methods  and  right  lines. 
The  car  of  the  future  is  not  yet  laid  down. 
The  car  for  the  average  man,  for  Abraham 
Lincoln's  plain  people,  has  not  yet  been  built. 
It  would  be  a  bold  prophet  who  would  under- 
take in  detail  to  describe  that  car.  Neverthe- 
less, reasoning  a  priori  there  are  some  features 
of  it  we  may  prognosticate.  In  the  first  place, 

170 


THE  AUTOMOBILE  OF  THE  FUTURE 

it  will  be  built  of  better  steel  than  any  we  have 
to-day  in  America.  In  the  next  place,  the  cars 
will  become  standardized,  and  when  stand- 
ardized they  will  be  built  by  machinery  in 
enormous  quantities  at  an  exceedingly  low 
cost.  The  wheels  will  be  large,  built  of  wood 
and  of  the  artillery  type.  Hard  rubber,  or 
some  enduring  substitute,  will  take  the  place 
of  the  present  trust-inflated,  uncertain  pneu- 
matics. The  car  will  be  light,  simple,  strong, 
and  easily  kept  in  repair.  The  clumsy  and 
wholly  unsatisfactory  system  of  change-speed 
gears  will  be  supplanted  by  a  variable-speed 
device.  The  writer  has  recently  seen  such  a 
device  which  is  simple  and  efficient  and  which 
he  believes  will  prove  immensely  valuable, 
especially  for  commercial  vehicles.  The  fuel 
will  be  kerosene  or  grain  alcohol.  Thirty-five 
per  cent  of  the  population  of  America  are 
farmers.  The  farmer  will  be  the  chief  auto- 
mobile owner  and  user.  The  maximum  speed 
of  his  car  may  be  only  twenty  miles  per  hour, 
but  that  is  twice  as  fast  as  his  present  mode  of 
travel.  The  car  will  be  an  invaluable  adjunct 
to  his  work  on  the  farm.  The  adjustment  of 
a  belt,  the  turn  of  a  crank,  and  the  automobile 
engine  furnishes  power  to  thresh  his  grain,  to 
cut  his  wood,  to  chop  his  feed,  and  to  pump 

171 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

his  water.  After  being  in  constant  use  all 
day  the  car  is  ready  to  take  the  entire  family 
to  the  social  gathering  in  the  village  at  night, 
or  to  church  on  Sunday  morning.  The 
farmer  will  use  the  automobile  because  he  can 
in  no  other  way  get  the  same  amount  of  work 
done  at  so  low  a  cost.  In  other  words,  the 
automobile  will  pay.  The  farmer  will  then 
become  the  earnest  champion  of  good  roads. 
He  will  insist  on  fair  legislation  for  motor-cars ; 
he  will  tolerate  no  police  traps  in  his  bailiwick, 
and  what  the  farmer  wants  "goes"  sooner  or 
later. 

It  requires  no  prophetic  vision,  therefore,  to 
see  that  the  motor-car  is  peculiarly  adapted 
to  the  needs  of  the  farmer,  and  that  it  is  to 
become  his  faithful  ally  and  friend  while  he 
in  turn  will  become  its  champion  and  defender. 
No,  not  defender,  for  by  the  year  1910  the 
automobile  will  need  no  defender;  it  will  have 
conquered  all  opposition,  won  all  hearts,  and 
taken  its  fixed  place  as  one  of  the  beneficent 
factors  in  modern  civilization.  There  will 
always  be  motor-cars  de  luxe  for  the  rich,  but 
they  will  be  merely  the  fringe  to  the  garment 
of  a  great  industry.  The  countless  millions 
of  tons  of  freight,  now  slowly  and  painfully 
dragged  over  country  roads  and  through  city 

172 


THE  AUTOMOBILE  OF  THE  FUTURE 

streets  by  poor  dumb  brutes,  will  go  spinning 
along,  the  motors  of  the  heavily  laden  trucks 
humming  a  tune  of  rich  content,  and  all  the 
thousand  tongues  of  Commerce  will  sing  the 
praises  of  the  motor-car. 


173 


CHAPTER  XVIII 

THE   COMMERCIAL   VEHICLE   AND 
NEWSPAPER   DISTRIBUTION 

SPEAKING  broadly,  it  may  be  said  that 
newspaper  work  falls  under  two  divisions: 
first,  the  creation  of  the  paper  itself,  second, 
its  distribution  to  the  public.  Both  in  the 
creation  and  distribution  of  the  newspaper, 
time  is  an  essential  element.  The  newspaper 
which  can  get  a  "beat"  of  five  minutes  on  its 
rivals  is  the  paper  of  the  future.  It  is  some- 
thing more  than  good  luck  that  our  great 
Metropolitan  daily  paper,  the  New  York 
Herald,  had  a  correspondent  standing  beside 
Admiral  Dewey  when  his  flagship,  on  that 
ever  memorable  morning  in  May,  steamed  past 
the  guns  at  Cavite  and  swept  Spanish  tyranny 
forever  from  the  Eastern  world.  It  was  some- 
thing more  than  chance  that  the  same  paper 
had  a  quick-witted,  keen-eyed  correspondent 
aboard  a  ship  lying  in  the  harbor  at  Port 
Arthur  the  night  the  Japanese  made  their 
daring  attack  on  the  Russian  squadron. 

174 


THE  COMMERCIAL  VEHICLE 

But  of  what  avail  would  it  be  to  get  the 
news  set  in  type,  the  complete  paper  from  the 
press,  if  the  precious  time  gained  were  to  be 
lost  in  the  distribution  of  the  issue  to  the  pub- 
lic ?  Or  put  the  case  a  little  differently.  Sup- 
pose two  rival  papers  get  the  important  news 
from  the  wires  at  the  same  moment;  suppose 
one  of  them  has  a  means  of  distribution  twice 
as  rapid  as  the  other;  the  "beat"  through  effi- 
cient distribution  is  just  as  creditable,  and 
just  as  satisfactory,  as  though  it  came  through 
the  medium  of  earlier  information  to  the 
editorial  rooms. 

All  this  leads  me  to  note  that  the  day 
draweth  nigh  when  no  first-class  newspaper 
office  will  employ  any  other  means  of  distri- 
bution than  that  of  the  self-propelled  vehicle. 
Of  the  three  factors  which  enter  into  auto- 
mobiling,  speed,  economy,  and  reliability, 
only  the  first  has  been  definitely  determined. 
The  world-breaking  records  at  Ormond  Beach 
have  forever  settled  the  question  of  speed. 
The  factors  of  economy  and  reliability  have 
not  yet  been  fully  established.  Nevertheless, 
in  newspaper  work,  the  factor  of  economy  is 
of  minor  importance;  the  factor  of  reliability 
is  of  supreme  importance.  It  is  not  a  question 
of  how  much  it  will  cost  to  deliver  your  paper, 

175 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

but  how  surely  and  quickly  can  you  deliver  it. 
The  "quickly"  item  is  settled  beyond  perad- 
venture;  the  "surely"  item,  I  regret  to  say,  is 
yet  on  trial,  with  the  leaning  of  the  jury  rather 
against  the  defendant,  with  a  recommendation 
to  the  court  for  leniency. 

However,  the  wide-awake  newspaper,  by 
having  reserve  motor-cars  to  take  the  place  of 
those  temporarily  out  of  order,  may  be  able 
to  conserve  the  wonderful  advantage  of  the 
system  without  peril  from  its  unreliability. 


176 


CHAPTER  XIX 

AUTOMOBILE   LEGISLATION 

"They'll  jail  you  an'  they'll  flail  you, 

An'  they'll  bust  your  bloomin'  'ead, 
They'll  iron  you  and  brand  you 

An'  w'en  all  is  done  an'  said, 
After  havin'  broke  you, 

With  a  rope  they'll  take  an'  choke  you, 
'Cause  you  'aven't  chose  obligingly 

To  be  already  dead." 

IN  the  beginning  of  this  discussion,  and 
as  a  "common  ground  from  which  to  reason 
and  to  which  refer,"  let  us  start  with  the  propo- 
sition that  the  automobile  is  a  new  factor  in 
civilization,  —  in  short,  an  innovator;  that  it 
has  rights  upon  the  highway  equal  to  those  of 
any  other  method  of  transportation ;  that  it  not 
only  has  come  to  stay,  but  that  its  manufacture 
is  a  growing  industry  and  its  use  one  that  will 
need  to  be  reckoned  with  in  all  future  consider- 
ations of  public  travel  on  the  highway.  With 
these  considerations  in  mind,  it  will  be  seen 
that  we  are  not  dealing  with  the  rich  man's 
toy,  to  be  used  to-day  and  discarded  to-morrow 

177 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

but  that  we  are  facing  new  conditions  in 
modern  life  in  the  way  of  transportation.  Any 
economic  innovation  always  produces  hard- 
ship to  a  portion  of  the  community.  The 
public  mind  does  not  take  kindly  to  new 
things.  The  first  people  who  carried  um- 
brellas in  the  streets  of  London  were  hissed, 
jeered  at,  and  stoned. 

Concerning  the  legal  status  of  the  automo- 
bile on  the  public  highway,  in  the  case  of 
McComber  v.  Nichols,  34  Mich.  212,  Judge 
Cooley,  writing  the  opinion,  said: 

"Persons  making  use  of  horses  as  a  means  of  travel  or 
traffic  upon  highways  have  no  rights  therein  superior  to 
those  who  make  use  of  the  highways  in  other  modes.  It  is 
true  that  locomotion  upon  the  public  roads  has  hitherto  been 
chiefly  by  horses  and  similar  animals,  but  persons  using  them 
have  no  prescriptive  rights  and  are  entitled  to  only  reasonable 
use  of  the  ways,  which  they  must  accord  to  all  others.  Im- 
proved methods  of  locomotion  are  perfectly  admissible  and 
they  cannot  be  excluded  from  the  existing  public  roads 
provided  their  use  is  consistent  with  present  methods.  The 
highway  is  open  to  all  suitable  methods  of  travel,  and  it 
cannot  be  assumed  that  this  will  be  the  same  from  day  to 
day,  or  that  new  means  of  making  the  way  useful  must  be 
excluded  merely  because  their  introduction  may  tend  to  the 
inconvenience  or  even  injury  of  those  who  continue  to  use 
the  road  in  the  same  manner  as  formerly.  The  highway 
shall  be  for  the  general  benefit.  All  passage  and  traffic  must 
admit  of  new  methods  of  use  when  it  is  found  that  the  general 

178 


AUTOMOBILE  LEGISLATION 

benefit  requires  them,  and  if  the  law  should  preclude  the    / 
adoption  of  their  use  to  new  methods  it  would  defeat  in 
greater  or  less  degree  the  purpose  for  which  the  highways 
are  established." 

Judge  Weand  of  Pennsylvania  also  laid 
down  the  law  as  follows: 

"A  man  has  as  much  right  to  run  an  automobile  on  the 
public  road  as  he  has  to  run  any  other  vehicle,  and  if  making 
no  more  noise  than  required  to  operate  it,  even  though  a 
horse  shied  and  an  accident  happened  to  the  driver,  the 
automobilist,  if  running  at  reasonable  speed,  cannot  be  held 
liable. 

"It  is  only  when  an  automobile  is  operated  carelessly  that 
the  owner  may  be  held  liable.  It  is  common  experience 
that  horses  will  take  fright  at  street  cars  or  even  wheelbarrows. 
If  a  horse  shies  at  a  wheelbarrow  the  man  who  pushes  it  is 
not  liable  for  the  consequences.  So  with  automobiles." 

The  language  of  these  opinions  is  practically 
an  embodiment  of  the  common  law  upon  the 
use  of  the  highway,  and  is  so  logical  and  rea- 
sonable that  it  will  undoubtedly  be  followed 
by  the  courts  wherever  the  matter  comes  up 
for  decision. 

The  average  man  who  drives  an  automobile 
is  a  man  of  average  substance  and  is  the 
average  American  gentleman.  Ninety  per 
cent  of  these  are  decent,  careful,  and  consid- 
erate of  the  rights  of  other  users  of  the  high- 
way. A  small  per  cent,  however,  are  the 

179 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

reverse.  They  drive  their  cars  recklessly  and 
often  at  dangerous  rates  of  speed.  The  public 
mind  is  not  discriminating.  It  sees  a  few 
automobilists  disregarding  the  laws  of  com- 
mon sense  and  common  decency,  and  therefore 
they  at  once,  without  reflection,  condemn 
automobilists  as  a  class.  Those  who  do  this 
are  as  unjust  and  unfair  and  unreasonable  as 
the  automobilists  who  drive  recklessly  on  the 
highway.  Let  us  draw,  therefore,  the  line  of 
demarcation  clearly  between  the  legitimate 
user  of  the  highway  and  the  abuser  of  the 
highway. 

An  argument  against  the  abuse  of  a  thing 
is  never  an  argument  against  the  proper  use 
of  a  thing.  The  decent  driver  feels  as  deeply 
and  is  as  strongly  opposed  to  the  harum- 
scarum,  devil-may-care  driver  on  our  public 
roads  as  the  most  rabid  anti-automobilist.  It 
seems  as  though  some  men  who  own  automo- 
biles and  some  chauffeurs  who  drive  auto- 
mobiles have  become  "  speed-mad."  It  is  this 
class  of  automobilists  that  we,  no  less  than  the 
anti-automobilist,  are  anxious  to  curb  and 
punish.  This  to  the  extent  even  of  very 
drastic  punishment.  The  question  then  is, 
how  can  the  exceptional  reckless  driver  on 
the  highway  be  brought  to  book  and  controlled 

180 


AUTOMOBILE  LEGISLATION 

without  the  passage  of  laws  so  universally 
drastic  that  they  will  become  a  hardship  to 
the  decent  user  of  the  highway  and  a  detri- 
ment to  this  new  and  growing  industry  ?  The 
present  law  governing  automobilists  in  the 
State  of  New  York  makes  it  illegal  to  drive 
within  the  city  limits  at  over  ten  miles  per 
hour,  and  in  the  country  at  over  twenty  miles 
per  hour.  These  limits  of  speed  are  ridicu- 
lously low;  in  fact,  they  are  absurd.  Under 
certain  conditions  of  traffic  in  our  city,  five 
miles  an  hour  would  be  a  reckless  rate  of 
speed ;  and  under  other  conditions  of  traffic  in 
the  same  street  twenty  miles  an  hour  would  be 
perfectly  safe. 

As  a  consequence  of  the  unjust  discrimina- 
tion in  the  arrest  of  automobilists  in  Central 
Park  (sixty  arrests  having  been  made  during 
two  months  for  alleged  speeding),  it  was 
determined  by  the  Governors  of  the  Auto- 
mobile Club  of  America  to  ascertain  the  speeds 
of  horse-drawn  vehicles  in  the  Park  and  cer- 
tain parts  of  the  city.  One-eighth-mile  courses 
were  carefully  laid  out  by  a  surveyor  in  Cen- 
tral Park,  on  Fifth  Avenue,  and  on  the 
Riverside  Drive.  Two  expert  timers  were 
employed  for  parts  of  fourteen  days,  at  various 
hours  of  the  day,  from  nine  o'clock  in  the 

181 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

morning  until  five-thirty  in  the  afternoon. 
The  data  thus  obtained  are  summarized  as 
follows : 

Total  number  of  horse-drawn  vehicles  tuned 437 

Highest  rate  of  speed 22.5     miles  per  hour. 

Lowest  rate  of  speed 8.03  miles  per  hour. 

Average  rate  of  speed 12.28  miles  per  hour. 

The  exceedingly  high  rate  of  speed  of  22.5 
was  a  one-horse  runabout.  There  were  also 
several  other  runabouts  which  ran  at  a  speed 
of  from  eighteen  to  nineteen  miles  per  hour. 
These  were  in  the  morning  hours,  when 
horsemen  were  undoubtedly  trying  out  their 
trotters. 

During  the  same  period  one  hundred  and 
six  automobiles  were  timed  over  the  same 
courses,  showing  an  average  rate  of  speed  of 
16.65  miles  per  hour,  the  highest  being  21.42 
miles  per  hour,  and  the  lowest  8.83  miles  per 
hour. 

The  above  data  are  furnished  under  oath  by 
expert  timers,  and  the  courses  chosen,  as 
already  stated,  were  accurately  measured  and 
certified  to  by  a  surveyor. 

Some  interesting  facts  may  be  gleaned  from 
this  report: 

First.  That  every  one  of  the  four  hundred 
and  thirty-seven  horse-drawn  vehicles,  as  well 

182 


AUTOMOBILE  LEGISLATION 

as  the  automobiles,  was  traveling  in  excess  of 
the  legal  speed  limit. 

Second.  That  the  average  rate  of  speed 
traveled  was  12.28  miles  per  hour,  which  rate 
is  more  than  fifty  per  cent  in  excess  of  the 
legal  limit. 

Third.  No  arrests  of  drivers  of  horse- 
drawn  vehicles  were  made,  showing  that,  so 
far  as  applied  to  horsemen,  the  law  is  a  dead 
letter. 

Arrests  of  automobilists  were  of  daily  occur- 
rence, and  although  the  average  speed  of  the 
horse-drawn  vehicle  was  12.28  miles  per  hour, 
no  one  will  claim  that  the  horsemen  were 
driving  at  a  reckless  rate.  When  it  is  con- 
sidered that  at  this  rate  of  speed  a  motor-car 
is  under  much  more  perfect  control  than  a 
team  of  horses,  and  that  it  can  be  stopped  in 
one  third  the  time  and  in  one  third  the  dis- 
tance, it  seems  absurd  to  limit  all  motor-cars 
to  a  speed  less  than  is  admittedly  safe  for  a 
horse-drawn  vehicle. 

The  New  Jersey  law  of  1905  was  a  com- 
promise measure  agreed  upon  by  both  the 
automobilists  and  the  anti-automobilists.  Its 
provisions  for  reckless  driving  on  the  highway 
are  drastic,  while  the  minor  offenses  are  dealt 
with  in  a  reasonable  and  sensible  way.  It 

183 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

follows  along  the  lines  of  some  of  the  best 
practise  in  foreign  countries.  It  has  regard 
to  the  manner  of  driving  on  the  highway.  If 
a  man  in  London  is  seen  driving  his  car 
skilfully  through  the  streets  at  fifteen  miles  an 
hour  he  is  not  molested;  if  a  man  following 
him  through  the  same  streets  is  seen  driving 
his  car  unskilfully  at  ten  miles  an  hour  he  is 
immediately  brought  to  book.  If  he  is  not 
considerate  in  passing  teams,  and  if  he  is  not 
careful  to  avoid  by  a  large  margin  the  foot 
passengers  on  the  highway,  he  is  at  once  taken 
in  hand. 

The  point  I  am  trying  to  make  is  this:  that 
speed  is  only  one  element  in  the  problem. 
The  New  Jersey  law  referred  to  permits  a 
man,  under  proper  conditions,  to  drive  in  the 
streets  as  fast  as  twenty  miles  an  hour,  having 
regard  always  to  the  "common  danger"  and 
the  "condition  of  traffic  on  the  highway." 

I  am  free  to  confess  the  difficult  problem 
involved  in  framing  a  law  that  will  steer  safely 
between  the  Scylla  of  burdensome  and  oppres- 
sive and  repressive  legislation  to  the  decent 
automobilist  and  the  Charybdis  of  lax  legisla- 
tion which  will  prevent  us  from  stamping  out 
the  exceptional  "Terror  of  the  Highway." 

The  motorphobiac  says,  let  us  draft  a  law 

184 


AUTOMOBILE  LEGISLATION 

which  will  be  a  drag-net.  The  little  and  in- 
offensive fishes  may  go  through;  the  sharks 
will  be  caught  and  dealt  with  according  to 
their  deserts.  This  is  very  plausible  in  theory; 
but  in  practise  how  does  it  work  out  ?  In  the 
towns  of  Rye,  Yonkers,  and  Babylon  police 
traps  have  been  set,  and  gentlemen  with  their 
wives  and  children,  driving  along  the  highway 
at  decent  rates  of  speed  and  considerate  of  the 
rights  of  others,  have  been  summarily  arrested 
like  common  criminals,  dragged  before  a  petty 
Dogberry,  and  on  the  unsupported  testimony 
of  some  over-zealous  official  have  been  pun- 
ished. The  fine  is  the  least  of  the  punishment. 
The  outrage  done  to  their  feelings,  the  fact 
that  they  have  been  treated  as  criminals,  is  a 
punishment  far  more  severe  than  the  imposi- 
tion of  a  fine.  I  doubt  not  that  in  some  cases 
the  imposition  of  punishment  has  been  entirely 
justifiable.  I  am  not  speaking  of  this  class  at 
the  present  moment. 

On  the  other  hand,  there  are  not  wanting 
many  instances  where  the  punishment  was  an 
outrage  done  under  the  protection  of  a  law 
that  was  special  legislation,  and  the  imposition 
of  a  fine  was  little  short  of  legalized  robbery. 

We  are  now  looking  at  the  shield  from  the 
standpoint  of  the  average  decent  automobilist. 

185 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

The  anti-automobilist  retorts  that  there  are 
very  few  decent  automobilists.  This  state  of 
mind  shows  him  to  be  prejudiced  and  therefore 
entirely  unfit  to  give  a  judicial  opinion  in  the 
matter,  and  his  evidence,  therefore,  should  be 
ruled  out. 

Now  comes  the  man  down  the  street  who 
has  bought  a  new  high-powered  machine  and 
who  has  but  recently  learned  to  manipulate 
his  new  toy.  He  rushes  through  a  village 
street  at  thirty,  possibly  forty  miles  per  hour; 
he  is  a  danger  and  a  menace  to  every  one  in 
his  vicinity.  If  the  man  should  lose  his 
presence  of  mind  the  machine  might  easily 
run  amuck  and  the  consequences  would  be 
horrible  to  contemplate.  That  man  deserves 
punishment  so  drastic  that  it  will  not  only 
teach  him  a  lesson  but  be  a  warning  to  others 
of  his  ilk.  The  Automobile  Club  of  America, 
and  decent  automobilists  everywhere,  are  as 
bitterly  opposed  to  this  class  of  drivers  as  the 
most  rabid  anti-automobilist.  If  a  member 
of  the  club  should  be  guilty  of  such  conduct, 
and  it  were  brought  to  the  attention  of  the 
Governers,  he  would  be  summarily  dealt  with. 
Not  only  that,  but  the  club  has  gone  further, 
and  in  cases  of  reckless  driving,  where  serious 
damage  has  resulted,  although  the  offender 

186 


AUTOMOBILE  LEGISLATION 

was  not  a  member  of  the  club,  the  Governors 
have  offered  a  reward  for  the  apprehension  of 
the  culprit  and  have  offered  to  put  at  the 
disposal  of  the  authorities  the  club's  special 
counsel  to  assist  in  the  prosecution.  As  re- 
peatedly stated,  the  Automobile  Club  of 
America  stands  for  good  roads,  good  laws,  and 
good  behavior.  The  automobilist  has  more 
at  stake  in  obedience  to  the  spirit  of  reasonable 
laws  than  any  one  else.  He  has  at  stake  not 
only  the  peace  and  safety  of  his  own  family, 
neighbors,  and  friends,  and  all  that  the  anti- 
automobilist  has,  but  in  addition  to  these  he 
has  at  heart  the  prosperity  and  growth  of  the 
great  sport  and  industry  in  which  he  is  inter- 
ested. The  automobilist  is  an  American  gen- 
tleman. An  appeal  to  his  sense  of  decency 
and  justice  and  fair  play  should  be  made. 
The  press  can  do  a  great  service  by  a  cam- 
paign of  education.  The  trouble  in  the  past 
has  been  largely  that  so  many  papers  have 
denounced  automobilists  as  though  they  all 
ab  initio  belonged  to  the  criminal  class. 

Their  columns  have  teemed  writh  denuncia- 
tions which  in  some  instances  were  well- 
merited,  but  which  the  press  applied  to 
automobilists  both  good  and  bad  alike.  Dis- 
crimination has  been  sadly  lacking. 

187 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

Ordinarily,  under  our  system  of  government, 
an  accused  man  is  supposed  to  be  innocent 
until  he  has  been  proven  guilty.  The  excep- 
tion to  that  rule  is  the  automobilist.  If  he  is 
arrested,  the  whole  machinery  of  the  law,  from 
the  officer  making  the  arrest  to  the  last  Court 
of  Appeal,  apparently  presupposes  the  man 
to  be  guilty,  and  he  must  prove  his  innocence 
or  suffer  the  consequences.  Gentlemen  of 
highest  business  character,  whose  word  would 
be  taken  anywhere  else  under  any  circum- 
stances at  full  value,  are  put  under  immediate 
suspicion  when  arrested  for  a  supposed  viola- 
tion of  the  automobile  law,  and  the  word  of 
any  petty,  prejudiced,  pin-head  officer  allowed 
to  offset  the  sworn  statement  of  the  accused. 
Is  this  just  ?  Is  this  fair  ?  Is  this  right  ? 

A  prominent  member  of  the  Automobile 
Club  of  America  once  wrote  to  former  Presi- 
dent Shattuck  and  inquired,  "How  near  do 
you  imagine  is  the  time  when  we  serious, 
responsible  men,  who  operate  automobiles, 
can  feel  that  we  have  been  taken  out  of  the 
criminal  class?" 

However,  in  the  present  condition  of  the 
public  mind  perhaps  it  is  quite  as  well  that 
we  should  have  legislation  and  endure  certain 
evils  rather  than  fly  to  those  we  know  not  of. 

188 


AUTOMOBILE  LEGISLATION 

A  few  automobilists  misuse  their  rights  and 
run  recklessly  over  the  rights  of  others.  We 
suffer  for  the  sins  of  a  few.  The  tension  be- 
tween the  public  and  the  motorist  grows 
tighter  with  every  accident  upon  the  highway. 

Disaster  which  it  will  take  years  to  remedy 
will  result  unless  the  responsible  users  will 
themselves  undertake  to  control  the  irrespon- 
sible users,  and  that  very  soon.  Responsible 
gentlemen  do  not  make  the  operation  of  their 
cars  a  menace  to  life  and  limb  upon  the  public 
highway.  Ninety  per  cent  of  the  trouble 
arises  out  of  the  fact  that  responsible  gentle- 
men allow  irresponsible  chauffeurs  to  run 
amuck,  frightening  people  out  of  their  wits 
and  leaving  a  trail  of  blue  smoke  and  profanity 
in  the  wake  of  their  cars.  Some  chauffeurs 
are  careful  and  considerate,  but  most  of  them 
are  a  law  unto  themselves.  It  is  quite  possible 
for  owners  to  stop  all  this.  As  long  as  repre- 
hensible behavior  is  permitted,  the  odium  will 
rest  upon  the  sport  as  a  whole. 

I  take  it  that  the  object  of  sound  legislation 
is  to  protect  the  public,  and  yet  not  be  so 
drastic  that  it  will  retard  the  development  of 
this  new  and  important  industry.  Such  a  law 
must  be  definite  in  its  provisions,  easily  under- 
stood, and  the  penalties  must  fit  the  offenses. 

189 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

Such  a  law  must  be  fair,  so  that  it  will  have 
back  of  it  the  power  of  public  sentiment. 

I  will  now  suggest  what  I  regard  as  the 
most  important  provision  of  such  a  law. 
I  submit  that  experienced  automobilists  who 
are  fair  and  open-minded  are  far  better  quali- 
fied to  draft  such  a  law,  and  one  that  will  be 
practical  in  its  workings,  than  those  who  know 
nothing  of  the  automobile.  This  proposition 
is  self-evident. 

Analyzing  the  situation,  we  find  that  ninety 
per  cent  of  the  automobilists  are  careful  in  the 
use  of  their  cars  on  the  public  highway  and 
such  need  not  the  restraining  influence  of  any 
law.  The  ten  per  cent  who  bring  us  all  into 
disrepute  are  composed  for  the  most  part  of 
two  classes:  First,  the  rich,  reckless  driver  to 
whom  the  imposition  of  a  fine  is  no  hardship, 
and,  second,  the  reckless  dare-devil,  harum- 
scarum  chauffeur  who  seems  to  delight  in 
seeing  how  reckless  and  spectacular  he  can  be 
in  the  use  of  his  car.  Therefore,  no  law  will 
ever  be  effective  that  does  not  have  special 
regard  to  these  two  classes  of  offenders. 
Public  sentiment  will  not  justify  locking  these 
men  up  for  a  first  offense  where  no  actual 
damage  has  resulted.  A  fine  is  paid  and  for- 
gotten five  minutes  afterwards.  How,  then, 

190 


AUTOMOBILE  LEGISLATION 

are  these  two  classes  of  flagrant  violators  to 
be  reached  ?  I  believe  that  the  result  may  be 
.obtained  by  a  revocable  license. 

First.  Let  every  driver  of  a  car  receive  a 
certificate  or  license  from  the  Secretary  of 
State.  On  conviction,  in  addition  to  other 
penalties,  for  a  first  offense  let  the  certificate 
be  revoked  for  a  period  of  fifteen  days,  the 
trial  magistrate  endorsing  on  the  certificate 
such  revocation.  For  a  second  offense,  a  re- 
vocation of  thirty  days;  and  for  a  third  offense, 
a  revocation  for  one  year  and  imprisonment. 
For  the  rich  owner  to  be  deprived  of  the  use 
of  his  car  in  this  way  would  be  humiliating 
indeed.  Every  driver  of  a  motor-car  realizes 
the  chief  pleasure  of  motoring  is  in  driving 
one's  own  car.  The  rich  culprit  would  be 
exceedingly  careful  not  to  lay  himself  liable 
to  a  second  or  a  third  conviction.  In  the 
case  of  a  conviction  of  a  reckless  chauffeur, 
he  would  be  out  of  employment  and  his  means 
of  livelihood  be  taken  from  him,  so  that  he, 
the  most  prolific  source  of  trouble,  would  have 
strong  reasons  for  not  getting  into  difficulty. 
The  sentiment  of  the  entire  community  would 
back  up  such  a  law  as  this. 

Second.  Public  garages  should  be  under 
the  supervision  of  the  law. 

191 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

(a)  They  should  be  required  to  take  out  a 
license. 

(6)  They  should  keep  a  record  of  each 
machine,  showing  the  exact  time  it  was  taken 
out  and  the  exact  time  it  was  brought  back. 

(c)  The  duplicate  of  this  record  should  be 
furnished  the  owner  of  the  car  once  a  week. 

(d)  They  should  allow  no  machine  to  go 
out  without  written  order  from  the  owner. 

Third.  CONCERNING  CHAUFFEURS.  The 
following  requirements : 

(a)  They  should  take  out  a  license. 

(b)  They  should  keep  a  record  of  the  car 
when  it  leaves  and  when  it  returns  to  the 
garage. 

(c)  They  should  notify  the  owner  of  the  car 
immediately  when  it  becomes  disabled. 

Fourth.  All  cars  above  five  horse-power 
should  be  required  to  have  two  separate 
brakes,  one  of  which  should  be  double  acting. 

Fifth.  No  car  should  be  permitted  to  run 
with  muffler  open  in  the  corporate  limits  of  a 
village,  town,  or  city. 

Sixth.  The  speed  within  corporate  limits 
should  be  twenty  miles  an  hour,  and  thirty 
miles  an  hour  in  the  open  country.  But  no 
speed  should  be  allowed  greater  than  is  safe 
and  consistent  with  conditions  of  traffic  on  the 

192 


AUTOMOBILE  LEGISLATION 

highway.  These,  in  the  main,  would,  I  take 
it,  be  the  general  provisions  of  a  sane  and 
sensible  law.  One  that  in  its  practical  work- 
ings would,  if  fairly  and  honestly  enforced, 
protect  the  public  and  do  no  violence  to  the 
new  industry. 

We  automobilists  of  America  are  more 
keenly  interested  in  this  matter  than  anybody 
else.  Our  intelligence  must  provide  for  the 
protection  of  the  public,  or  the  public  will 
provide  for  us  in  a  way  that  will  not  be  pleas- 
ant and  thus  set  back  this  new  industry  a 
dozen  years.  We  must  make  good  and  effect- 
ive laws  before  the  public  make  laws  for  us 
that  will  be  unendurable. 


193 


CHAPTER  XX 

GOOD    ROADS 

WHAT  strange  contrasts  this  world  of  ours 
presents.  Midnight  and  noonday,  summer 
and  winter,  disease  and  health,  are  in  no 
greater  contrast  than  the  conditions  we  find 
in  our  so-called  civilization.  St.  Paul  finds 
his  antithesis  in  Nero  —  George  Washington 
in  Benedict  Arnold.  The  Prince  of  Peace 
stands  on  Mt.  Tabor,  and  later,  on  the  same 
mount,  stands  Napoleon  Bonaparte  with  his 
wasting  cannon  by  his  side.  The  hovel  of  the 
poor  stands  within  the  shadow  of  the  palace 
of  the  rich.  The  clanging  of  the  church  bells 
is  heard  by  the  condemned  awaiting  execution. 
Our  mighty  railway  systems,  which  in  efficiency 
and  physical  equipment  have  not  their  equal 
in  the  world,  represent  the  high- water  mark 
of  engineering  skill  and  scientific  perfection. 
But  for  thousands  of  miles  paralleling  these 
great  railways  are  public  highways  of  sand 
I;  and  mud  and  mire  that  would  be  a  disgrace 
to  the  blackest  civilization  of  the  dark  ages. 

194 


GOOD  ROADS 

We  have  the  largest  rivers,  the  highest  moun- 
tains, and  the  greatest  trusts  of  any  of  the 
civilized  nations  of  the  world,  and  be  it  said 
to  our  humiliation  and  our  shame,  the  worst 
roads. 

ij     The  advance  or  retrogression  of  a  nation 
//  may  be  measured  somewhat  by  the  character 
'»  of  its  highways.     The  great  historian  Momm- 
sen  says: 

"It  was  Appius  Claudius  who  in  his  epoch-making  cen- 
sorship (442)  threw  aside  the  antiquated  rustic  system  of 
parsimonious  hoarding,  and  taught  his  fellow-citizens  to  make 
a  worthy  use  of  the  public  resources." 

He  began  that  noble  system  of  public  works, 
-  of  general  utility,  which  justifies  the  military 
successes  of  Rome,  —  even  from  the  point  of 
view  of  the  welfare  of  nations. 

To  him  is  the  empire  indebted  for  her  great 
military  roads. 

"Following  in  the  steps  of  Claudius,  the 
Roman  Senate  wove  around  Italy  that  network 
of  roads  without  which,  as  the  history  of  all 
military  states  from  the  Achsemenidse  down 
to  the  creator  of  the  road  over  the  Simplon 
shows,  no  military  hegemony  can  subsist." 

Gibbon,  in  his  Rise  and  Fall  of  the  Roman 
Empire,  dwells  at  length  upon  the  Roman 
highways,  and  calls  especial  attention  to  their 

195 


fy'rtf'f-*  **?*•' 

;/«..,  M"***- 
.  / 


*>Ve 


SJ>. 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

enduring  construction.  One  great  Roman 
highway,  four  thousand  and  eighty  Roman 
miles  in  length,  extended  from  Rome  to  Jeru- 
salem, Palestine  being  at  that  time  a  province 
of  the  Roman  empire. 

Speaking  of  these  highways,  Gibbon  says 
they  are 

"Accurately  divided  by  mile-stones  and  ran  in  a  direct 
line  from  one  city  to  another,  with  very  little  respect  for  the 
obstacles  either  of  nature  or  private  property.  Mountains 
were  perforated  and  bold  arches  thrown  over  the  broadest 
and  most  rapid  streams.  The  middle  part  of  the  road  was 
raised  into  a  terrace  which  commanded  the  adjacent  country, 
consisting  of  several  strata  of  sand,  gravel,  and  cement,  and 
was  paved  with  large  stones  or,  in  some  places  near  the  capital, 
with  granite.  Such  was  the  solid  construction  of  the  Roman 
highways,  whose  firmness  has  not  yielded  to  the  effort  of 
fifteen  centuries." 

"The  firmly  jointed  stone  slabs  of  the  Roman  streets," 
says  Mommsen,  "  their  indestructible  highways,  the  broad, 
hard,  ringing  tiles,  the  everlasting  mortar  of  the  buildings, 
proclaims  the  indestructible  solidity  and  the  energetic  vigor 
of  the  Roman  character." 

By  this  test  we  should  not  like  to  have  the 
great  Historian  pass  judgment  on  the  Amer- 
ican character. 

In  the  United  States,  outside  of  the  cities 
and  towns,  we  have  about  three  thousand 
miles  of  Macadam  roads.  We  have  single 

196 


GOOD  ROADS 

States  in  the  American  Union  that  are  as  large 
as  the  Republic  of  France,  and  yet  France 
has  one  hundred  twenty-six  thousand  miles 
of  Macadam  highway.  The  United  States  is 
the  only  civilized  nation  in  the  world  that  does 
not  assist  her  people  in  the  building  of  good 
roads.  Since  the  Civil  War  the  National 
Government  has  expended  four  hundred  and 
fifty  million  dollars  on  the  improvement  of  our 
rivers  and  harbors,  and  yet  a  thousand  times 
as  many  people  travel  over  the  land  and  a 
thousand  times  as  much  freight  is  hauled  over 
the  land  as  traverse  our  water  ways.  Every 
time  the  sun  sets  in  the  west  the  bad  roads  of 
this  country  have  cost  our  people  one  million 
five  hundred  thousand  dollars.  The  waste  is 
exactly  as  great  as  though  every  time  the 
sunset  gun  was  fired  at  Governor's  Island  a 
ship  containing  a  cargo  of  one  million  five  hun- 
dred thousand  dollars  in  gold  went  out  to  sea 
and  dumped  its  precious  freight  in  the  ocean 
where  it  could  never  be  reclaimed.  How  long 
can  a  country,  even  one  so  rich  and  prosperous 
as  ours,  endure  such  a  drain  upon  its  resources? 
Our  forests  are  fast  disappearing.  Our 
Government  domain  in  the  way  of  free  lands 
is  practically  exhausted.  Some  of  our  great 
mining  properties  have  been  worked  out. 

197 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

California  does  not  begin  to  produce  the  gold 
she  once  did.  Is  it  not  high  time  that  the 
nation  should  begin  to  husband  her  resources  ? 
Old  General  Mud  levies  his  tax  on  all  our 
people  and  it  is  becoming  exceedingly  burden- 
some. 

The  best  brief  speech  I  have  ever  read  on 
the  subject  of  Good  Roads  is  one  from  Mr. 
Irving  Bacheller,  that  brilliant  and  versatile 
writer  whose  quaint  optimism  and  cheerful 
philosophy  have  made  the  world  a  happier 
and  better  place  in  which  to  live:  "I  have 
seen  gardens  spring  up  where  there  were  mud 
flats,  mansions  where  there  were  ruins,  roses 
in  place  of  weeds,  and  people  where  once 
were  pollywogs.  I  ask  for  this  appropria- 
tion. A  bad  road  tends  to  profanity  and  if 
extended  long  enough  would  lead  to  Hell. 
This  resolution  is  in  favor  of  public  morality. 
It  will  enhance  the  beauty  of  the  township 
and  induce  cheerfulness  in  the  day  of  taxes." 

At  one  of  the  banquets  given  by  the  Auto- 
mobile Club  of  America,  the  distinguished 
Senator  Gallinger,  of  New  Hampshire,  face- 
tiously described  some  of  the  country  roads 
in  his  native  State.  He  declared  that  at  the 
entrance  to  one  particularly  abominable  piece 
of  highway  was  this  sign: 

198 


GOOD  ROADS 

"This  road  is  impassable, 
Not  even  jackassable; 
But  if  you  must  travel 
Carry  your  own  gravel." 

A  thoughtful  writer  in  that  splendid  publi- 
cation the  Good  Roads  Magazine  points  out 
that  a  few  years  ago  the  total  receipts  of  all 
the  railroads  in  America  for  a  certain  twelve 
months  were  seven  hundred  million  dollars, 
and  that  seventy  per  cent  of  these  receipts 
were  left  in  the  country,  going  back  into  labor 
and  material,  thus  adding  to  the  wealth  of 
the  nation  and  benefiting  the  whole  people. 
During  the  same  year  one  billion  dollars  was 
consumed  in  transporting  passengers  and 
freight  over  our  dirt  roads.  This  enormous 
expenditure  did  not  return  a  cent  in  dividends 
and  was  indeed  a  tax  and  a  source  of  loss  to 
both  producer  and  consumer. 

Our  consuls  have  gathered  statistics  from 
twenty-three  European  countries  regarding 
the  cost  of  hauling  freight  over  the  roads  of 
Europe,  and  find  that  it  is  about  ten  cents  to 
twelve  cents  per  ton  per  mile.  From  care- 
fully prepared  statistics,  it  is  found  the  cost  of 
hauling  a  ton  of  freight  over  the  roads  of 
America  is  twenty-five  cents  per  ton  per  mile. 

The   following   figures    are    an   interesting 

199 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

object  lesson  from  the  Good  Roads  Magazine, 
and  show  the  power  necessary  to  haul  a  load 
over  different  kinds  of  highway: 

To  haul  6,270  pounds  on  iron  rails  requires 
J  horse-power. 

To  haul  6,270  pounds  on  Macadam  requires 

1  horse-power. 

To  haul  6,270  pounds  on  gravel  requires 

2  horse-power. 

To  haul  6,270  pounds  on  dirt  requires  5 
horse-power. 

To  haul  6,270  pounds  on  mud  road  requires 
10  horse-power. 

The  National  Good  Roads  Association  is 
doing  a  splendid  work  in  arousing  and  edu- 
cating our  people  to  the  importance  of  good 
roads.  Among  the  many  good  things  they 
have  accomplished  was  the  execution  of  a  plan 
a  few  years  ago  for  equipping  a  train  to  trav- 
erse the  country,  giving  practical  lessons  in 
scientific  road-building  and  stopping  at  central 
points  for  the  holding  of  district  and  state 
conventions.  This  plan  was  submitted  to 
Mr.  Stuyvesant  Fish,  one  of  America's  three 
great  railroad  presidents.  The  Good  Roads 
Magazine  states: 

"After  careful  consideration  President  Fish  of  the  Illinois 
Central  placed  at  the  disposal  of  the  National  Association  a 

200 


GOOD  ROADS 

fine  train  of  eleven  cars  and  an  official  car  supplied  with 
commissary  for  the  entire  crew.  This  splendidly  equipped 
train,  having  aboard  a  full  complement  of  modern  road- 
making  machinery  and  with  expert  road  builders,  made  a 
three  months'  tour  of  the  Southern  States,  during  which  time 
sixteen  conventions  were  held  and  as  many  object-lesson 
roads  built.  Similarly  equipped  trains  have  been  sent  out 
through  various  parts  of  the  country  and  the  farmers  have 
been  given  the  best  of  lessons." 

At  the  present  time  New  Jersey  has  over 
one  thousand  miles  of  Macadam  roads.  This 

is  more  than  any  other  State  in  the  Union.    /-^*^ 
"  '+~t      (, 

New  York  and  Massachusetts  are  next  in 
order,  but  their  combined  mileage  scarcely 
equals  that  of  New  Jersey. 

At  the  recent  election  in  New  York  State 
the  people  voted  to  issue  bonds  in  the  sum  of 
fifty  million  dollars  for  the  purpose  of  building 
good  roads.  This  is  an  epoch-making  event 
in  legislation  in  America,  and  its  beneficial 
results  will  be  felt  by  uncounted  generations 
yet  unborn.  To  Albert  R.  Shattuck,  chair- 
man of  the  Good  Roads  Committee  of  the 
Automobile  Club  of  America,  more  than  to 
any  other  individual,  is  this  great  achievement 
due.  Would  that  America  had  more  of  such 
far-seeing,  broad-minded,  self-sacrificing  citi- 
zens as  Albert  R.  Shattuck. 

From  time  to  time  efforts  have  been  made 

201 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

to  interest  the  United  States  Government  in 
good  road  building,  but  without  success. 

That  able  statesman,  Hon.  W.  P.  Brown- 
low,  of  Tennessee,  introduced  into  the  Lower 
House  of  Congress,  two  years  ago,  a  bill  appro- 
priating twenty-five  million  dollars  from  the 
funds  of  the  National  Government  to  assist 
the  various  States,  in  proportion  to  their  popu- 
lation, in  the  building  of  good  roads,  and 
although  this  bill  was  championed  by  that 
public-spirited  senator,  Hon.  A.  C.  Lattimer, 
of  South  Carolina,  and  others,  it  failed  of 
becoming  a  law.  All  sorts  of  foolish  and  silly 
objections  were  made  to  the  passage  of  this 
most  important  bill. 

I  venture  the  opinion  that  the  time  is  not 
far  distant  when  public  interest  will  be  so 
aroused  to  the  importance  of  good  road  build- 
ing in  America  that  any  representative  or 
senator  who  dares  to  oppose  national  aid  for 
this  worthy  purpose  will  be  sent  to  his  political 
grave  "unwept,  unhonored,  and  unsung." 


202 


CHAPTER  XXI 

THE   FUEL   OF  THE   FUTURE 

WITHOUT  good  roads  the  automobile  is  im- 
practicable. Without  proper  fuel  it  is  useless. 
The  automobilist  is  vitally  interested,  there- 
fore, not  only  in  good  roads  but  in  an  unfailing 
supply  of  cheap  and  efficient  fuel. 

Thus  far  gasolene  has  been  used  almost 
exclusively.  It  is  practically  the  only  motor 
fuel  now  available,  and  its  rapidly  increasing 
.demand  is  steadily  advancing  the  price,  which 
demand,  unless  some  other  fuel  is  found,  will 
soon  render  the  price  prohibitive.  Gasolene 
is  a  by-product  resulting  from  the  refining  of 
illuminating  oil.  Less  than  five  per  cent  is 
obtained  from  the  crude  petroleum  from  the 
Eastern  oil-fields,  and  practically  none  from 
the  petroleum  found  in  California,  Texas,  and 
other  States  from  which  the  largest  part  of 
our  supply  is  procured. 

Mr.  F.  H.  Oliphant,  of  the  United  States 
Geological  Survey,  the  author  of  a  special 
report  on  the  production  of  petroleum  in  1904, 

203 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

issued  by  the  Department  of  the  Interior,  in 
response  to  an  inquiry  respecting  the  quanti- 
ties of  gasolene  and  kerosene  annually  pro- 
duced in  the  United  States,  makes  the  following 
statement : 

"  The  approximate  quantity  of  naphtha,  etc., 
derived  from  the  crude  (oil)  in  the  United 
States  in  1904  can  be  found  by  multiplying 
the  quantity  exported,  found  on  page  28,  by 
1.85.  The  quantity  of  illuminating  oil  (kero- 
sene) can  also  be  approximated  by  multiplying 
the  quantity  on  page  29  by  1.6." 

Upon  reference  to  page  28  of  said  report  it 
will  be  found  that  the  United  States  exported 
of  naphtha,  benzine,  gasolene,  etc.,  24,989,422 
gallons,  which  quantity  multiplied  by  1.85 
gives  a  total  production  for  1904  of  46,230,430 
gallons.  Of  the  total  production  of  naphtha, 
including  benzine  and  gasolene,  it  is  esti- 
mated that  only  about  30,000,000  gallons  are 
gasolene. 

The  quantity  of  gasolene  produced  depends 
largely  on  the  amount  of  illuminating  oil 
which  can  be  marketed.  The  demand  for 
illuminating  oil  does  not  begin  to  increase  in 
the  same  ratio  as  the  demand  for  gasolene. 
During  the  last  ten  years  the  demand  for 
gasolene  has  increased  enormously  and  the 

204 


THE  FUEL  OF  THE  FUTURE 

price  has  doubled.  To  the  users  of  motors 
throughout  the  land  these  facts  would  be  most 
discouraging  and  disquieting,  were  it  not  that 
a  simple  and  effective  remedy  is  at  hand  in  the 
form  of  ethyl  or  grain  alcohol. 

Alcohol  is  a  satisfactory  substitute  for  gaso- 
lene as  a  motor  fuel  for  internal  combustion 
engines,  and  with  certain  changes  in  the 
engines  can  be  used  for  operating  motor  vehi- 
cles. It  is  clean,  odorless,  and  free  from 
danger  of  accidental  explosion.  The  vapor 
given  off  is  not  inflammable  unless  closely 
confined,  and  naked  lights  can  be  used  around 
the  machine  with  impunity.  The  worst  dan- 
ger to  be  apprehended  from  a  leak  in  the  pipe 
.or  storage  tank  would  be  the  loss  of  the  fuel, 
or  a  slow  fire  if  a  flame  came  into  actual 
contact  with  the  alcohol. 

The  supply  is  absolutely  unlimited.  Alco- 
hol can  be  obtained  from  all  substances  con- 
taining sugar  or  starch,  or  compounds  which 
can  be  transformed  into  sugar,  such  as  corn, 
grains  of  all  kinds,  potatoes,  cane  and  beet 
sugar  refuse,  grape  skins  and  refuse  of  wine 
making,  etc.,  etc.  Increased  demand  can  only 
have  the  effect  of  increasing  production,  and 
stimulating  efforts  to  perfect  and  cheapen 
processes  of  distillation  and  distribution. 

205 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

The  European  countries  have  been  far 
wiser  than  ours  in  respect  to  this  important 
matter.  In  1896  Belgium  exempted  alcohol 
from  taxation  when  used  for  industrial  pur- 
poses. Her  example  has  been  followed  by 
Germany,  France,  Austria,  Hungary,  Italy, 
and  Russia. 

Mr.  C.  J.  Zintheo,  of  the  TJ.  S.  Department 
of  Agriculture,  calls  attention  to  the  fact  not 
generally  known,  that  industrial  alcohol  was 
at  one  time  extensively  used  in  the  United 
States. 

"  Special  documents  show  that  in  the  United 
States  alcohol  was  used  for  lighting,  cooking, 
and  industrial  purposes  in  the  early  sixties. 
Before  1861  the  manufacture  of  spirits  was 
free  from  all  special  taxes  and  supervision,  as 
much  on  the  part  of  the  Union  as  on  the  part 
of  the  States  which  compose  it.  It  resulted 
from  this  freedom  that  alcohol  served  a  multi- 
tude of  industrial  uses.  The  production  was 
enormous,  amounting  to  ninety  million  gallons, 
coming  especially  from  the  distillation  of  corn. 
For  lighting  purposes  enormous  quantities 
were  employed.  In  1864,  the  city  of  Cincin- 
nati alone  utilized  twelve  thousand  bushels  of 
corn  per  day  for  distillation.  Because  of  its 
low  price  alcohol  was  also  used  as  fuel  for  the 

206 


THE  FUEL  OF  THE  FUTURE 

domestic  kitchen,  for  bath  and  laundry.  The 
establishment  and  successive  increases  of  the 
tax  on  spirits  had  the  result  of  upsetting  all 
these  industries  and  in  some  cases  of  destroy- 
ing them.  In  1791,  when  every  nerve  was 
strained  to  furnish  sufficient  revenue  to  estab- 
lish the  public  credit,  there  was  imposed  upon 
alcohol  a  tax  of  from  eleven  to  thirty  cents  per 
gallon,  according  to  proof.  When  Mr.  Jeffer- 
son became  president,  he  denounced  the  sys- 
tem of  internal  taxation  as  *  an  infernal  one ' 
and  one  which  could  not  be  resorted  to  in  a 
government  like  ours.  Consequently,  in  1802, 
the  tax  upon  alcohol  was  repealed.  No  fur- 
ther tax  was  levied  until  1813,  when  it  became 
necessary  to  resort  to  extraordinary  methods 
in  order  to  carry  on  the  war  between  Great 
Britain  and  this  country,  which  began  in  1812. 
The  taxation  of  alcohol  was  then  renewed. 
In  1817  this  tax  was  repealed,  and  from  that 
time  until  the  outbreak  of  the  Civil  War  no 
recourse  was  had  to  internal  taxes  of  any  kind. 
When  at  the  breaking  out  of  the  war  in  1861 
it  became  necessary  to  resort  to  every  possible 
means  to  make  money,  a  tax  was  levied  on 
alcohol  at  twenty  cents  per  gallon.  From  that 
time  until  the  present  the  tax  has  been  con- 
tinued, the  rate  at  one  time  being  as  high  as 

207 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

two  dollars  per  gallon.  There  are  statutes  in 
the  United  States  which  permit  the  use  of 
alcohol  free  of  tax,  by  colleges  and  scientific 
institutions." 

As  regards  the  efforts  in  recent  years  to 
use  alcohol  as  a  motor  fuel,  I  quote  from 
The  Revue  Technique,  December  10,  1903, 
a  report  of  the  results  of  some  interesting 
experiments : 

"The  employment  of  alcohol  as  a  motor 
fuel  has  had  a  rapid  development  in  France, 
where  exhibitions  have  been  specially  organ- 
ized with  a  view  of  testing  the  economy  of  its 
use  in  motors  for  various  purposes.  These 
exhibitions,  and  particularly  that  of  automo- 
biles at  Paris  and  Rouen,  and  of  stationary 
motors  at  Halle-sur-Saale,  have  demonstrated 
the  highly  practical  value  of  alcohol  for  motor 
use,  and  the  investigations  and  reports  of 
Messrs.  Brille,  Chauveau,  Perisse,  Ringel- 
mann,  Sorel,  Trillat,  and  De  la  Valette  have 
explained  the  superiority  of  alcohol  over  other 
liquid  fuels. 

"These  advantages  may  be  summed  up  as 
follows:  first,  freedom  from  danger;  second, 
absence  of  disagreeable  odors;  third,  capable 
of  high  compression;  fourth,  low  initial  heat 
and  discharge  of  exhaust  gases  at  relatively 

208 


THE  FUEL  OF  THE  FUTURE 

low  temperature;  fifth,  the  explosion  is  less 
sudden  and  more  prolonged  than  with  gaso- 
lene; sixth,  more  perfect  ignition  and  com- 
bustion; seventh,  the  cost  is  lower  than  for 
other  fuels. 

"Engineers  who  have  not  made  a  special 
study  of  the  fuel  action  of  alcohol  have  as- 
sumed that  it  could  not  be  as  efficient  as 
gasolene  because  of  its  lower  thermal  efficiency. 
The  fact,  however,  that  alcohol  mixed  with 
water  is  a  better  fuel  than  pure  alcohol  com- 
pletely explodes  the  idea  that  the  fuel  which 
has  the  highest  thermal  value  is  necessarily 
the  most  effective  in  use. 

"What  determines  the  practical  value  of  a 
fuel  is  not  the  total  number  of  heat  units  it 
contains,  but  the  number  of  heat  units  which 
are  converted  into  useful  mechanical  work. 
The  conditions  in  the  combustion  chamber  of 
an  explosive  motor  are  such  that  only  a  small 
percentage  of  the  heat  energy  of  a  rich  fuel 
is  utilized,  whereas  the  conditions  are  highly 
favorable  for  the  transformation  of  a  large 
percentage  of  the  heat  energy  of  a  fuel  of  the 
characteristics  of  alcohol,  and  especially  so 
when  it  is  hydrated  (mixed  with  water). 

"As  early  as  1887  Messrs.  Salanson  and 
Debauchy  demonstrated  by  experiments  that, 

209 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

with  the  same  explosive  pressure,  the  thermal 
efficiency  increased  with  the  decrease  of  tem- 
perature produced  by  the  explosion.  A  priori 
this  law  would  seem  to  be  erroneous,  for  as 
heat  is  the  origin  of  power  it  would  seem  that 
with  a  lower  temperature  the  power  must  also 
be  reduced.  The  anomaly  only  appears  in 
the  case  of  an  explosion  motor  working  on 
what  may  be  termed  a  superheated  cycle. 

"For  any  particular  mixture  the  limit  of 
compression  is  fixed  by  the  risk  of  premature 
explosion  by  self-ignition,  or  of  excessive  vio- 
lence in  the  explosion.  An  explosive  mixture 
of  gasolene  will  not  stand  high  compression, 
and  the  importance  of  this  in  diminishing  the 
effectiveness  of  this  fuel  is  well  known.  On 
the  other  hand,  an  explosive  mixture  of  alcohol 
will  stand  a  high  degree  of  compression,  and 
when  the  alcohol  is  hydrated  the  compression 
can  be  carried  still  higher,  with  the  result  that 
a  very  large  percentage  of  the  heat  energy  of 
the  poorer  mixture  is  converted  into  useful 
work. 

"M.  Chauveau  concludes  with  this  sum- 
mary: 

'  *  In  view  of  the  results  of  the  last  exhibition 
of  alcohol  motors,  results  which,  because  of 
the  careful  manner  in  which  the  experiments 

210 


THE  FUEL  OF  THE  FUTURE 

were  conducted,  cannot  be  suspected  of  error, 
we  prove  beyond  dispute  the  following  facts : 

"  *  First.  That  the  results  from  carbureted 
alcohol  are  inferior  to  that  of  alcohol  of  ninety 
per  cent  purity. 

'  *  Second.  That  the  results  from  alcohol  of 
ninety  per  cent  strength  show  an  efficiency 
value  of  thirty-eight  per  cent  of  the  theoretical 
value. 

*  The  best  efficiency  results  obtainable  from 
different  fuels  is  shown  in  the  following: 

Gas 24 

Gasolene  or  petroleum 20 

Alcohol  carbureted 33 

Alcohol  90  per  cent  pure "38 

'The  alcohol  motor  using  hydrated  alco- 
hol is  therefore  the  motor  of  the  greatest  effi- 
ciency.' ' 

The  movement  to  secure  the  adoption  by 
this  country  of  a  system  of  tax-free  denaturized 
alcohol  for  industrial  purposes,  similar  to  that 
in  force  in  Germany,  France,  Great  Britain, 
and  other  foreign  countries,  is  one  of  special 
importance  to  all  users  of  gasolene  engines, 
and  particularly  to  farmers,  whose  use  of  these 
engines  would  be  greatly  increased  if  alcohol 
were  used  for  fuel  instead  of  gasolene. 

"The  advantages  of  these  engines,  espe- 
211 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

cially  in  small  units,"  says  the  Iron  Age  in  a 
recent  issue,  "  are  so  obvious  that  it  is  only  a 
question  of  time  when  every  farmer  will  have 
one  to  aid  in  all  the  varied  work  on  the  farm.' 
The  leading  agricultural  implement  manufac- 
turers are  making  extensive  arrangements  to 
manufacture  engines  of  this  class  on  a  large 
scale,  and  the  prominent  thresher  manufac- 
turing companies  are  experimenting  to  produce 
the  most  perfect  internal  combustion  portable 
farm  engine,  and  only  await  favorable  motor- 
fuel  conditions  to  adopt  this  type  of  engine 
entirely." 

Not  counting  the  motors  used  in  automo- 
biles, the  annual  output  of  gasolene  engines 
in  this  country  is  over  one  hundred  thousand. 

Gasolene  is,  however,  practically  the  only 
motor  fuel  available  to-day,  and  the  increase 
in  the  use  of  these  engines  is  retarded  by  the 
high  cost  of  this  fuel,  which,  under  the  growing 
demand,  is  steadily  advancing  in  price.  Alco- 
hol is  in  every  way  a  suitable  fuel  for  this 
purpose,  being  free  from  all  dangerous  quali- 
ties, and  with  the  tax  removed  would  soon 
come  into  general  use. 

Alcohol  is  easily  and  cheaply  procured. 
The  internal  revenue  tax  on  it  is,  however, 
nearly  $2.07  per  gallon,  and  this  enormous 

212 


THE  FUEL  OF  THE  FUTURE 

tax  makes  impossible  its  use  in  this  country 
for  fuel  and  many  other  industrial  purposes. 

Writing  in  favor  of  the  movement  to  secure 
the  removal  of  this  tax  from  alcohol  when 
suitably  denaturized,  —  that  is,  made  undrink- 
able  by  the  addition  of  obnoxious  substances, 
—  Professor  Elihu  Thomson,  the  eminent 
scientist,  says: 

"There  are  some  facts  which  are  not  generally  known 
which  ought  to  be  known,  namely:  that  alcohol  is  produced 
and  sold  in  Cuba  for  from  twelve  to  fifteen  cents  per  gallon, 
and  that  it  is  an  excellent  fuel,  as  I  have  found  by  tests,  for 
the  running  of  engines  for  automobiles  —  taking  the  place  of 
gasolene.  At  fifteen  cents  or  twenty  cents  a  gallon  I  think  it 
would  eventually  displace  gasolene.  Burned  in  similar 
-engines  it  produces  no  smoke  or  soot,  nor  disagreeable  odor. 
Since  alcohol  mixes  with  water  freely,  a  fire  started  with 
alcohol  is  one  of  the  easiest  to  extinguish.  This  is  not  the 
case  with  gasolene  or  even  kerosene,  both  of  which  float  on 
water  and  continue  burning.  To  my  mind  the  farmer  should 
be  the  most  deeply  interested  in  the  production  and  use  of 
alcohol  for  industrial  purposes,  and  especially  in  its  use  for 
automobile  and  motor-boat  propulsion.  It  would  give  the 
farmer  a  sort  of  a  balance  wheel.  A  crop  that  is  not  easily 
marketable,  or  a  crop  partly  spoiled,  be  it  a  fruit,  grain,  or 
other  product,  could  be  made  the  source  of  cheap  alcohol  for 
industrial  purposes.  Alcohol  can  be  stored  in  tanks  for  an 
indefinite  period  without  deterioration.  Whether  denaturized 
or  not,  as  I  have  stated  above,  at  a  reasonable  price  it  is  the 
natural  fuel  for  automobiles,  inasmuch  as  the  amount  which 

213 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

can  be  produced  is  practically  unlimited,  whereas  with  the 
increasing  use  of  gasolene  the  price  is  sure  to  rise." 

Dr.  H.  W.  Wiley,  Chief  of  the  Bureau  of 
Chemistry,  United  States  Department  of  Agri- 
culture, writes  in  regard  to  this  subject: 

"  This  is  a  question  in  which  I  am  greatly  interested,  both 
from  the  agricultural  and  economic  points  of  view.  I  have 
long  been  convinced  that  the  free  use  of  alcohol  for  technical 
purposes  would  not  only  give  immense  impulse  to  manu- 
facturing industries  now  languishing  in  this  country,  but 
would  also  prove  of  great  benefit  to  agriculture  by  providing 
an  outlet  for  a  great  many  starchy  materials  unfit  for,  or 
unnecessary  to,  consumption,  and  which  would  find  a  ready 
market  in  the  form  of  alcohol  for  technical  purposes.  The 
waste  potatoes,  or  excessive  crops  of  Indian  corn,  the  immense 
quantities  of  cassava,  yams,  and  sweet  potatoes  which  can 
be  so  easily  grown  in  the  South,  could  be  used  in  this  way, 
but  are  not  well  suited  for  the  manufacture  of  potable  spirits. 
I  do  not  believe  that  there  would  be  any  loss  of  revenue  by 
granting  the  free  use  of  alcohol  in  the  arts." 

The  farmers'  interest  in  this  movement  for 
cheaper  alcohol  is  twofold.  First,  as  the  pro- 
ducer of  the  raw  material  from  which  the 
alcohol  is  distilled;  and,  second,  through  the 
possibilities  of  cheaper  light,  fuel,  and  power 
which  would  be  afforded  them  through  the 
adoption  of  the  proposed  legislation. 

Corn  is  the  principal  raw  material  from 
which  alcohol  is  made  in  this  country.  It  can 

214 


THE  FUEL  OF  THE  FUTURE 

also  be  made  from  other  materials,  such  as 
potatoes,  beets,  unmarketable  fruit,  damaged 
grain,  etc.  A  large  industrial  consumption  of 
alcohol  would,  as  Professor  Thomson  says, 
give  the  farmers  a  sort  of  balance  wheel, 
guaranteeing  them  a  sure  market  for  their 
surplus  and  otherwise  unsalable  crops.  Com- 
menting on  this  phase  of  the  alcohol  question, 
a  recent  article  in  the  Farmer's  Voice  says: 

"The  official  figures  for  1902  show  that  the  total  produc- 
tion of  alcohol  in  Germany  for  that  year  was  223,899,120 
proof  gallons.  Of  this  enormous  production  a  small  part 
was  exported,  but  a  very  large  proportion  was  used  in  manu- 
facturing, and  on  the  farms  as  fuel  for  light,  heat,  and  power. 

"The  United  States  has  one  and  one-half  times  the  popu- 
lation of  Germany,  and  with  equally  favorable  laws  American 
manufacturers  and  farmers  would  use  at  least  one  and  one- 
half  times  as  much  as  Germany,  and  probably  a  great  deal 
more,  as  in  all  things  in  which  conditions  are  equally  favor- 
able American  consumption  is  on  a  much  larger  scale.  Then, 
too,  this  country  is  growing  much  more  rapidly  than  Germany, 
and  the  development  of  the  internal  combustion  engine  is 
opening  a  new  use  for  alcohol  which  even  in  Germany  has 
only  begun. 

"To  produce  the  enormous  quantity  of  alcohol  that  would 
be  used  if  the  tax  were  removed,  would  create  a  new  market 
for  corn  so  large  that  it  would  have  a  powerful  effect  in 
maintaining  good  prices.  Alcohol  can  be  kept  for  years 
with  little  loss,  consequently  in  those  years  when  an  extra 
large  crop  created  a  surplus  tending  to  depress  prices  this 

215 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

surplus  could  be  converted  into  alcohol,  and  thus  prevent 
any  market  reduction  in  prices.  And,  reversely,  when  corn 
was  high,  on  account  of  the  small  crop,  or  extra  demand  for 
other  purposes,  very  little  alcohol  would  be  distilled,  and  the 
alcohol  in  storage  would  be  drawn  upon  to  supply  the  demand. 
"The  farmers  are  thus  seen  to  be  particularly  interested, 
for  in  addition  to  the  benefit  they  will  derive  from  the  use  of 
alcohol  on  the  farm,  and  from  the  additional  home  market 
of  the  thousands  of  workmen  who  would  be  employed  in 
new  industries  which  would  be  created  by  a  policy  of  cheap 
alcohol,  they  would  have  what  would  be  of  the  utmost  value 
in  maintaining  good  prices  for  their  corn,  namely,  an  ex- 
panding and  contracting  market  to  absorb  the  surplus." 

The  influence  on  all  other  alcohol-produc- 
ing crops  would  be  similar.  But  more  impor- 
tant still  is  the  fact  that  with  tax-free  alcohol 
available  no  region  would  be  remote  from  a 
cheap  fuel  supply.  The  farmers  would  raise 
the  corn  or  other  materials,  which  would  be 
made  into  alcohol  in  a  distillery  only  a  short 
distance  away.  The  freight  charges  on  trans- 
porting the  farmer's  crop  and  his  fuel  long 
distances  would  both  be  saved.  And  in  addi- 
tion the  farmer  would  supply  the  fuel,  or  rather 
the  material  for  making  the  fuel,  for  the  towns 
and  villages  near  by. 

One  acre  of  potatoes  will  produce  255 
gallons  of  alcohol.  But  these  potatoes  are  of 
the  best  flavor  and  raised  for  food.  There 

216 


THE  FUEL  OF  THE  FUTURE 

are  other  varieties,  coarse  and  undesirable 
for  food,  which  yield  twice  as  large  a  crop  as 
the  table  variety.  It  is  entirely  practical 
to  raise  potatoes  that  would  yield  500  gallons 
of  commercial  alcohol  to  the  acre.  One 
acre  of  good  corn  land  will  produce  sufficient 
corn  to  make  140  gallons  of  commercial 
alcohol.  But  this  is  not  all:  Hon.  James 
Wilson,  Secretary  of  Agriculture,  at  a  recent 
Congressional  hearing  on  this  important  sub- 
ject, says: 

"  The  stalks  of  Indian  corn,  at  the  time  when  the  grain  is 
sufficiently  hardened  to  be  perfectly  sound,  when  harvested 
contain  a  large  quantity  of  starch.  If  the  stalks  of  Indian 
corn  could  be  utilized  at  that  time  for  the  manufacture  of 
alcohol,  they  would  produce  a  quantity  which  would  be 
almost  incredibly  large.  There  would  be  approximately 
10  tons  of  stalks  to  the  acre  of  Indian  corn  yielding  50  bushels 
the  acre,  or  20,000  pounds,  and  of  this  at  least  12  per  cent, 
or  nearly  2,400  pounds,  is  fermentable  matter,  45  per  cent  of 
which  can  be  recovered  as  alcohol,  equivalent  to  1,080 
pounds  of  absolute  alcohol,  or  approximately  170  gallons  of 
commercial  alcohol.  The  average  yield  of  Indian  corn  is 
only  about  one  half  the  above,  but  the  heavier  corn  lands 
of  the  country  that  would  be  used  for  growing  corn  for  alcohol 
average  easily  50  bushels  to  the  acre.  It  is  safe  to  say  that 
the  average  amount  of  sugar  and  starch  which  goes  to  waste 
in  the  stalks  of  Indian  corn  annually  would  make  100  gallons 
of  commercial  alcohol  per  acre.  When  we  consider  the  vast 
number  of  acres  cultivated  in  Indian  corn,  approximately 

217 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

100,000,000,  it  is  seen  that  the  quantity  of  alcohol  that  is 
lost  in  the  stalks  is  so  large  as  to  be  almost  beyond  the  grasp 
of  our  conception. 

"  Of  course,  it  must  be  remembered  that  there  would  be 
very  great  difficulties  attending  the  saving  of  these  stalks 
and  the  manufacture  of  alcohol  from  them,  and  as  long  as 
there  are  cheaper  sources  it  is  evident  that  they  will  not  be 
utilized  for  this  purpose.  But  the  time  is  doubtless  coming 
when  technical  and  commercial  skill  will  be  able  to  utilize 
this  immense  source  of  energy.  Our  coal  mines  are  definite 
quantities  and  are  being  rapidly  used  up.  Our  forests  are 
disappearing  and  many  of  them  have  disappeared.  The 
same  is  true  of  the  sources  of  mineral  oil  and  natural  gas. 
In  the  future  —  it  may  be  some  time  in  the  future  —  the  time 
will  certainly  come  when  the  world  will  have  to  look  to  agri- 
culture for  the  production  of  its  fuel,  its  light,  and  its  motive 
power.  It  seems  to  me  that  through  the  medium  of  alcohol 
agriculture  can  furnish  in  the  most  convenient  form  for  the 
use  of  man  this  absolutely  necessary  source  of  supply.  I 
believe,  therefore,  that  the  utilization  of  alcohol  in  the  arts 
and  industries,  under  such  restrictions  as  would  safeguard 
the  fiscal  rights  of  the  United  States  Government,  would 
prove  not  only  a  great  stimulus  to  manufactures,  but  a  great 
benefit  to  agriculture." 

The  rapid  growth  in  the  demand  for  liquid 
motor-fuels  has  more  than  doubled  the  price 
of  gasolene  during  the  past  ten  years,  and  the 
fuel  bill  for  a  five  horse-power  engine,  ten 
hours  per  day,  has  been  increased  from  a 
hundred  to  a  hundred  and  fifty  dollars  yearly. 
If  this  advance  is  not  checked  by  the  introduc- 
es 


THE  FUEL  OF  THE  FUTURE 

tion  of  a  satisfactory  substitute  there  is  every 
reason  to  expect  that  the  fuel  cost  will  increase 
even  more  rapidly  in  the  future,  and  in  a  short 
time  reach  a  point  prohibitive  to  all  but  the 
rich  owners  of  automobile  and  pleasure  boats. 

The  desirability  of  alcohol  for  motor  fuel 
purposes  is  beyond  question  and  the  enact- 
ment of  legislation  providing  for  its  industrial 
use  free  of  taxation  would  have  the  immediate 
effect  of  checking  the  advancing  price  of  gaso- 
lene. The  effect  of  the  enactment  of  a  tax- 
free  denaturized  alcohol  law  on  the  price  of 
gasolene  is  further  shown  by  the  fact  that 
alcohol  would  largely  take  the  place  of  gaso- 
lene for  cooking,  heating,  illuminating,  and 
many  manufacturing  processes,  and  the  pres- 
ent enormous  consumption  of  gasolene  for 
these  purposes  would  be  discontinued.  In 
this  way  such  a  law  would  prevent  the  increase 
in  the  price  of  liquid  fuel  beyond  the  cost  of 
alcohol.  The  supply  of  alcohol  is  absolutely 
unlimited,  and  to  a  large  extent  it  will  be 
produced  near  the  point  where  it  is  to  be 
consumed. 

It  has  been  estimated  that  making  alcohol 
available  as  fuel  by  removing  the  tax  would 
double  the  power  uses  of  this  country.  This 
would  mean  an  aggregate  increase  in  engines 

219 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

of  over  ten  million  horse-power,  and  if  these 
were  only  employed  one  third  of  the  time  an 
addition  to  the  working  force  of  the  country 
of  a  thousand  million  horse-power  hours.  At 
one  tenth  of  a  gallon  per  horse-power  this 
would  require  the  annual  consumption  of  one 
hundred  million  gallons  of  alcohol. 

The  internal  combustion  engine  is  only  in 
its  infancy.  It  is  the  simplest  and  most  eco- 
nomical of  prime  movers  and  is  destined  to  an 
enormous  growth.  In  the  automobile  form 
it  will  cover  our  highways  and  streets,  the 
pleasure  vehicle  being  outnumbered  a  hun- 
dred-fold by  the  commercial  machines,  which 
will  handle  loads  many  times  heavier  than  is 
now  possible  with  horses.  These  conditions 
will  be  duplicated  on  the  water.  The  alcohol 
engine  will  become  the  auxiliary  of  all  small 
sailing  vessels,  and  in  fishing  boats  and  small 
craft  on  our  rivers,  coasts,  and  harbors  will 
supplant  all  other  forms  of  power.  The 
farmer  will  find  the  alcohol  engine  the  cheapest 
and  most  efficient  of  all  hired  help,  and  no 
farm  will  be  without  one  or  more  engines. 
In  manufacturing  the  increase  in  the  use  of 
these  engines  will  be  equally  great.  With 
gasolene  as  the  only  fuel  such  a  development 
would  be  impossible.  With  alcohol  it  is 

220 


THE  FUEL  OF  THE  FUTURE 

assured.  The  alcohol  fuel  can  never  be 
monopolized,  as  the  materials  from  which  it 
is  produced  can  be  furnished  in  unlimited 
quantities  by  the  farmers. 

It  is  important  to  note  in  this  connection 
that  when  the  farmer  begins  to  supply  the  raw 
material  out  of  which  the  fuel  is  distilled  that 
drives  the  motor-car,  he  will  cease  at  once  to 
dislike  and  decry  it,  and  become  its  earnest 
champion  and  advocate. 

Not  infrequently  the  policy  of  our  govern- 
ment is  short-sighted  and  unwise.  The  taxing 
of  industrial  alcohol  is  a  shining  example  of 
this  fact.  Every  automobilist  has  a  personal 
interest  in  seeing  to  it  that  this  stupid  policy 
is  changed. 

In  this  matter  how  much  more  sensible  is 
the  policy  of  our  baby  sister  republic  Cuba. 
The  following  interesting  extract  is  taken  from 
our  United  States  Consular  Report,  1904: 

"Matanzas,  a  city  of  about  40,000  inhabitants,  has  water 
connection  in  1,700  out  of  4,000  houses,  which  use  about 
100,000  gallons  a  day.  The  water-works,  operated  by  an 
American  company  incorporated  in  the  State  of  Delaware, 
are  located  a  few  miles  distant  from  the  city,  where  there  are 
springs  giving  excellent  water  in  sufficient  quantity  to  supply 
a  city  of  100,000  people. 

"The  alcohol  motor  pump,  used  on  Sunday  last  for  the 
first  time,  is  of  German  manufacture,  and  cost,  complete 

221 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

with  installation,  $6,000.  This  motor-pump  is  a  45-horse- 
power  machine  and  is  operated  at  a  fuel  cost  of  about  40 
cents  an  hour,  or  $4  a  day  of  ten  hours,  pumping  1,000,000 
gallons  of  water. 

"As  alcohol  here  is  very  cheap  (10  cents  a  gallon)  the 
running  expenses  of  these  motors  are  at  the  minimum. 
The  Germans  are  selling  in  Cuba  many  such  motors  for 
electric-lighting  and  water  plants  at  very  low  prices.  One 
firm  has  a  contract  to  put  in  an  alcohol  motor-pump  at 
Vento,  for  use  in  connection  with  the  Habana  water  supply, 
which  is  expected  to  develop  180  horse-power,  to  cost,  with 
installation,  about  $25,000  and  to  pump  1,000,000  gallons  an 
hour  at  a  fuel  cost  of  $1.60.  The  same  firm  has  installed  an 
electric  plant  alcohol  motor  of  45  horse-power,  which  sup- 
plies 138  lights  (Hersh  lamps)  at  a  fuel  cost  of  5  cents  an 
hour. 

"I  call  the  attention  of  those  who  are  interested  in  our 
Cuban  trade  to  the  fact  that  at  the  breakfast  which  followed 
the  installation  there  was  not  one  article  on  the  table  of 
American  origin  except  the  flour  in  the  bread. 

"H.  G.  SQUIERS, 
"  United  States  Minister  to  Cuba." 

The  manufacturers  and  owners  of  automo- 
biles are  directly  interested  in  the  enactment 
of  legislation  freeing  industrial  alcohol  from 
taxation,  even  though  such  alcohol  should  not 
be  used  as  a  fuel  for  motor  vehicles,  since  there 
is  no  question  but  that  untaxed  alcohol  would 
take  the  place  of  gasolene  to  a  very  large 
extent  for  burning,  lighting,  cooking,  and 
similar  purposes,  and  as  a  motor  fuel  for  farm 

222 


THE  FUEL  OF  THE  FUTURE 

engines.  This  would  greatly  relieve  the  de- 
mand for  gasolene  and  would  leave  just  so 
much  more  for  use  as  a  motor  fuel  for  auto- 
mobiles. 


223 


CHAPTER  XXII 

CARS  AT  THE   CUSTOM   HOUSE 

THROUGH  the  courtesy  of  the  Automobile 
Magazine,  I  am  permitted  to  reproduce  Mr. 
James  R.  Allison's  interesting  article: 

In  the  whole  world  there  are  only  three 
nations  that  bid  the  tourist  welcome  and  per- 
mit him  to  pass  the  Custom  House  without 
exacting  tribute  or  security  therefor.  And 
these  are  the  three:  The  United  Kingdom, 
Persia,  and  Siam.  For  the  rest,  there  are 
some  sixty  countries  that  either  exact  a  toll 
varying  from  five  per  cent  ad  valorem  up- 
wards, or  demand  a  deposit  on  entry  to  be 
refunded  at  departure.  The  following  table 
should  be  of  interest  and  value  to  touring 
automobilists : 

Great  Britain:  Motor-cars  are  admitted 
free. 

France:  On  entering  France  the  custom 
dues  must  be  deposited;  $10  for  every  100 
kilogrammes  (about  250  Ibs.)  if  the  car  weighs 
more  than  125  kilogrammes,  $23.75  for  every 

224 


CARS  AT  THE  CUSTOM  HOUSE 

kilogramme  if  the  car  weighs  less.  The  de- 
posit will  be  refunded  by  any  frontier  custom 
office,  against  the  deposit  receipt,  within  six 
months. 

Germany:  The  duty,  if  levied,  is  as  is  on  a 
vehicle,  $37.50  without  regard  to  size  or 
weight.  In  order  to  secure  free  entry  the 
driver  must  possess  an  authentic  document 
proving  that  the  motor  has  been  the  property 
of  the  owner  for  a  length  of  time.  The  time 
and  all  other  circumstances  are  at  the  discre- 
tion of  the  customs  authorities,  each  case 
being  examined  on  its  merits. 

Belgium:  The  import  duties  of  12  per  cent 
ad  valorem  must  be  paid,  but  they  will  be 
refunded  within  a  year,  on  production  of  the 
receipt. 

Holland :  The  duties  are  5  per  cent  of  value, 
but  the  tourist  can  enter  without  payment  at 
the  discretion  of  the  collector  of  the  customs, 
who  can  demand  a  deposit  equivalent  to  the 
duties,  to  be  reimbursed  on  leaving  the 
country,  providing  the  driver  possesses  a 
permit  from  the  Secretary  of  Public  Works. 
This  can  be  obtained  in  advance. 

Italy:  The  duty  is  as  on  carriages  with  four 
wheels,  about  $24.  This  must  be  deposited, 
accompanied  by  a  declaration  of  the  facts  of 

S25 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

ownership  and  intention;  but  it  will  be  repaid 
at  any  frontier  Custom  House  on  leaving,  on 
production  of  the  deposit  receipt. 

Switzerland:  A  deposit  of  duties  is  needed, 
$4  for  every  250  Ibs.  gross  weight.  Against 
this  receipt  a  permit  is  given  valid  for  one 
year.  The  amount  deposited  is  returned  on 
the  motor  leaving  Switzerland  by  any  frontier 
station. 

Denmark:  No  deposit  is  required  if  the 
touring  motorist  makes  a  declaration  that  the 
motor  is  to  stay  only  a  limited  time  for  touring 
purposes.  Otherwise  the  duties  range  from 
$5.12  to  $15.50. 

Finland:  As  carriages  with  a  motor  they 
are  dutiable  as  railway  carriages,  15  per  cent 
ad  valorem. 

Norway:  Motor  carriages  are  subject  to  a 
duty  of  15  per  cent  ad  valorem,  returnable  on 
leaving  the  country. 

Spain:  The  duty  varies  from  $40  for  an 
ordinary  touring  car  to  $150  for  larger  vehi- 
cles. The  money  is  regarded  as  a  deposit, 
returnable  during  any  period  up  to  six  months. 

Portugal :  The  duty  for  each  complete  motor 
is  about  $100,  repayable  on  leaving. 

Greece:  Four-wheel  vehicles,  $60. 

Servia:  50  dinar  per  100  kilos.     A  dinar 

226 


CARS  AT  THE  CUSTOM  HOUSE 

is  equivalent  to  100  paras,  of  about  19  cents 
value,  and  100  kilos,  equal  about  250  Ibs. 
avoirdupois. 

Bulgaria:  8£  per  cent  ad  valorem. 

Russia:  Carriages  for  four  persons,  each 
198  roubles.  A  rouble  is  100  kopecs,  and  is 
equivalent  to  about  80  cents.  If  on  exami- 
nation of  a  motor-car  the  motor  is  found  to  be 
undetachable,  the  duty  is  fixed  on  the  motor 
by  estimating  its  weight  as  30  per  cent  of  the 
aggregate  of  the  weight  of  the  car  and  motor, 
and  the  rate  for  that  is  1  rouble  70  kopecs 
per  pond.  A  pond  is  36  Ibs.  avoirdupois. 
The  duties  must  be  deposited,  but  will  be 
reimbursed  after  being  kept  from  two  to  ten 
months. 

Turkey:  8  per  cent  ad  valorem. 

Austro-Hungary :  $35  and  $6.75  for  every 
250  Ibs.  of  engine  weight;  but  these  duties  will 
be  repaid  on  production  of  receipt  on  leav- 
ing. 

Egypt:  8  per  cent  ad  valorem. 

Morocco:  10  per  cent  ad  valorem. 

Algiers:  Same  duties  and  regulations  for 
deposit  and  refund  as  in  France. 

South  Africa:  25  per  cent  ad  valorem. 

India:  5  per  cent  ad  valorem. 

Persia:  Free. 

227 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

Siam:  Free. 

China:  15  per  cent  ad  valorem. 

French  Cochin  China:  (See  France.) 

Japan:  10  per  cent  ad  valorem. 

Philippines:  Motors  for  passengers, 

Australian  States:  20  per  cent  ad  valorem. 

New  Zealand :  20  to  30  per  cent  ad  valorem. 

Fiji  Islands:  12^  per  cent  ad  valorem. 

United  States  of  America :  The  import  duty 
is  45  per  cent  on  the  value,  but  a  tourist  from 
beyond  the  borders  need  not  pay  the  duty  in 
cash  if,  after  a  careful  examination  and  ap- 
praisement has  been  made,  a  satisfactory  bond 
is  given,  providing  for  the  re-exportation  of 
the  motor  within  three  months  from  the  date 
thereof. 

Canada:  Entering  Canada,  motor-cars  are 
liable  to  a  duty  of  35  per  cent  of  their  value, 
as  determined  by  the  purchase  invoice,  which 
must  be  produced  to  the  collector  of  the 
customs;  but  the  owners  of  motors,  not  new, 
in  use  by  tourists  coming  temporarily  into 
Canada,  may  deposit  an  amount  equal  to  the 
duty,  and  this  will  be  refunded  if  the  motor  is 
re-exported  within  six  months.  In  the  mean- 
time the  machine  must  not  be  used  for  gain 
or  hire. 
1 1  Newfoundland:  40  per  cent  of  the  value. 

228 


CARS  AT  THE  CUSTOM  HOUSE 

Mexico :  In  Mexico  the  motor-car  is  ranked 
as  a  carriage,  and  the  duty  is  fixed  by  weight. 
A  motor  weighing  below  100  kilos,  (about 
250  Ibs.)  is  charged  at  the  rate  of  62  cents  per 
kilo.,  net;  the  rate  per  kilo,  grading  down  to 
37  cents  per  kilo,  for  machines  weighing 
2,500  Ibs.  and  upward. 

Salvador:  20  centavos  per  kilo.  (2  Ib.  3  oz.). 

Nicaragua:  The  duties  are  the  same  as 
Salvador,  but  the  Nicaraguan  dollar  is  only 
worth  about  16  cents. 

Honduras  imposes  only  2  centavos  on  a 
half  kilogramme  of  weight. 

Guatemala:  17  to  30  pesas  per  kilogramme 
of  weight. 

Argentine:  50  per  cent  ad  valorem. 

Bolivia:  35  per  cent  ad  valorem. 

Chili:  60  per  cent  ad  valorem. 

Paraguay:  55  per  cent  ad  valorem. 

Peru:  45  per  cent  ad  valorem. 

Uruguay:  48  per  cent  ad  valorem. 

Venezuela:  25  per  cent  ad  valorem. 

Brazil:  3,000  reis  per  kilogramme. 

Ecuador:  5  cents  per  kilo. 

British  Guiana:  Each  car  $80. 

Bermuda:  5  per  cent  ad  valorem. 

Cuba:  25  per  cent  ad  valorem. 

Jamaica:  One  sixth  ad  valorem. 

229 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

Bahamas:  20  per  cent  ad  valorem. 
Windward  Islands:  15  per  cent  ad  valorem. 
Barbados:  10  per  cent  ad  valorem. 
Trinidad:  5  per  cent  ad  valorem. 


230 


CHAPTER  XXIII 

PRACTICAL    SUGGESTIONS 

THE  locomotive  which  pulls  the  Empire 
State  Express  is  a  marvelous  piece  of  mechan- 
ism. It  accomplishes  easily  the  task  it  is 
set  to  do. 

It  may  not  be  wholly  without  interest  to 
note  and  compare  the  conditions  under  which 
it  operates  with  those  under  which  a  steam 
motor-car  performs  its  work.  The  locomotive 
is  the  product  of  the  best  mechanical  brains 
and  experience  of  three  quarters  of  a  century. 
It  does  not  leave  the  round-house  to  begin 
its  day's  task  until  it  has  been  carefully  in- 
spected by  a  trained  mechanic  and  found 
to  be  in  perfect  condition.  A  skilful  engineer 
then  takes  charge  and  the  engine  is  steadily 
at  work  for  not  more  than  four  or  five  hours. 
Observe  the  conditions  under  which  it  oper- 
ates: In  the  first  place,  it  runs  on  two 
heavy  parallel  steel  rails  which  in  turn  are 
attached  to  cross  ties  not  over  eighteen  inches 
apart.  These  ties  rest  on  a  ballasted  road- 

231 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

bed  the  grades  and  curves  of  which  are  re- 
duced to  a  minimum.  The  railroad  is  fenced 
in  and  has  its  own  private  right  of  way. 
The  engineer  runs  under  orders  on  a  clear 
track  which  is  protected  by  the  block  system. 
At  the  end  of  a  four  or  five  hours'  run  the 
locomotive  is  turned  over  to  a  trained  in- 
spector who  examines  every  part  of  its  mechan- 
ism, tightens  any  nuts  that  may  require 
attention,  makes  any  adjustments  that  may 
be  necessary  —  in  short,  puts  the  machine 
in  perfect  condition  for  the  next  day's  work. 
Note  the  conditions  under  which  the  auto- 
mobile works:  It  has  practically  as  many 
parts  as  the  locomotive.  In  this  country  it 
is  scarcely  a  dozen  years  old.  As  a  rule  it  is 
taken  out  on  the  highway  with  only  the  most 
cursory  examination  if,  indeed,  any  at  all. 
It  is  operated,  not  on  solid,  smooth,  level  steel 
rails,  but  on  our  rough  American  roads, 
subjected  to  every  variety  of  tort  and  strain 
and  twist,  one  wheel  often  ten  or  twelve 
inches  higher  or  lower  than  the  other  three, 
one  moment  dragging  through  sand  or  mud, 
the  next  crossing  over  ruts  and  chuck  holes, 
now  with  all  brakes  set  descending  a  steep 
hill,  then  climbing  a  ten  or  fifteen  per  cent 
grade.  Under  these  trying  conditions  the 

232 


PRACTICAL  SUGGESTIONS 

car  is  expected  to  run,  not  four  or  five  hours, 
but  ten  or  twelve  or  twenty.  Then  it  is 
placed  in  a  barn  or  garage  and  the  next  day 
it  is  expected  to  repeat  the  performance. 
All  this,  too,  without  any  special  care,  inspec- 
tion, or  adjustment,  in  the  hands  not  of  a 
trained  expert  but  of  a  novice  of  an  operator 
who  a  week  before  did  not  know  the  differ- 
ence between  a  carbureter  and  a  differential, 
a  spark  plug  and  an  exhaust  valve.  Little 
wonder  that  our  cars  do  so  badly.  The 
wonder  indeed  is  that  under  these  condi- 
tions they  operate  at  all.  The  writer  has 
owned  and  himself  operated  twenty-two 
automobiles.  He  regards  two  weeks  spent 
in  a  factory  at  Lawrence,  Mass.,  working  in 
the  shops  studying  the  construction  of  the  car, 
as  the  most  profitable  experience  in  his  auto- 
mobile career. 

The  chief  pleasure  in  automobiling  is  in 
understanding  and  being  able  to  operate 
one's  own  car.  The  owner  of  a  motor-car 
will  fall  far  short  of  its  perfect  enjoyment 
unless  he  will  take  the  time  to  study  its  con- 
struction and  familiarize  himself  with  its 
operation.  He  must  be  able  to  detect  the 
minor  troubles  that  are  liable  to  occur,  and 
to  make  the  necessary  adjustments  or  repairs 

233 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

on  the  highway.  All  this  is  easy  to  accom- 
plish if  one  will  but  give  a  little  patient  study 
to  the  problem. 

The  Young  Men's  Christian  Association 
in  New  York  City  has  established  an  Auto- 
mobile School,  which  is  not  only  turning  out 
scores  of  decent,  intelligent,  clean-cut  young 
men  as  competent  chauffeurs,  but  many 
owners  have  availed  themselves  of  the  oppor- 
tunity to  take  the  course  of  instruction,  much 
to  their  subsequent  advantage.  A  knowledge 
of  all  the  parts  of  one's  car  and  their  proper 
uses  not  infrequently  prevents  imposition  on 
the  part  of  chauffeur  and  mechanic,  and  is 
well  worth  the  slight  expenditure  of  time  and 
application  necessary  to  acquire  such  knowl- 
edge. Nowhere  else  is  better  exemplified  the 
truth  of  the  old  adage,  "A  stitch  in  time  saves 
nine,"  than  in  promptly  making  adjustments 
to  a  car  when  it  begins  to  go  lame. 

Psychologists  tell  us  of  a  law  which  they 
call  the  law  of  the  Association  of  Ideas.  A 
knowledge  of  this  law  and  of  its  operations 
is  most  valuable  to  the  motorist.  The  human 
mind  performs  a  mental  act  easier  and  more 
quickly  the  second  time  than  it  does  the  first, 
and  more  easily  and  quickly  the  third  time 
than  the  second,  and  so  on.  Therefore,  the 

234 


PRACTICAL  SUGGESTIONS 

constant  thought  of  the  man  beginning  to 
operate  a  car  should  be,  what  must  I  do  to 
stop  it? 

Throw  out  this  clutch;  put  on  this  brake. 
Throw  out  this  clutch;  put  on  this  brake. 
Throw  out  this  clutch;  put  on  this  brake. 
The  mental  act  of  constantly  repeating  this 
thought,  and  going  through  the  process  in 
imagination  again  and  again,  will  ultimately 
train  the  mind  so  that  in  some  sudden  emer- 
gency it  will  promptly  act  in  the  proper 
manner  without  any  apparent  command  of  the 
will.  There  is  no  hurry  about  starting  a 
motor-car.  One  may  have  all  day  in  which 
to  start,  but  human  life  will  depend  on  the 
promptness  with  which  one  is  able  to  stop. 
Therefore  the  importance  of  training  the 
mind  to  act  instantly  —  automatically  as  it 
were  —  cannot  be  overestimated. 

Conscientious  automobilists  —  and  ninety 
per  cent  of  them  are  included  in  this  class  - 
are  exceedingly  anxious  to  avoid  frightening 
horses  or  causing  annoyance  or  inconvenience 
to  other  users  of  the  highway.  The  Psalmist 
said,  "The  horse  is  a  vain  thing  for  safety/' 
No  one  appreciates  that  fact  more  than  the 
automobilist.  By  watching  a  horse's  ears 
as  he  approaches,  one  may  be  enabled  to 

235 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

know  the  animal's  state  of  mind,  and  decide 
whether  it  is  becoming  frightened  and  whether 
it  is  prudent  to  try  to  pass  on  the  highway. 
A  horse's  ears,  his  manner  of  throwing  them 
forward  and  twitching  them  quickly  and 
nervously,  tell  to  the  careful  observer,  in  un- 
mistakable language,  what  is  liable  to  hap- 
pen. If  the  horse  appears  badly  frightened, 
the  motorist  should  drive  his  car  to  the  ex- 
treme right  of  the  roadside  and  stop  his 
engine.  If  the  driver  of  the  horse  then 
undertakes  to  pass,  he  does  so  entirely  on 
his  own  responsibility  and  the  motorist  is  in 
no  wise  responsible  in  the  event  of  accident 
or  disaster.  In  the  case  of  women  or  children 
driving,  the  motorist  should  hasten  to  alight 
and  offer  his  services  in  leading  past  the 
offending  car  the  nervous  animal. 

When  the  motorist  is  approaching  an 
animal  showing  signs  of  fright,  it  is  important 
to  speak  to  him  in  a  clear,  sharp  tone  of  com- 
mand, "Whoa  there!"  A  human  voice  com- 
ing from  out  the  frightful  object  is  not  only 
reassuring  to  the  animal,  but  attracts  his 
attention,  and  nine  times  out  of  ten  he  is 
quieted.  The  philosophy  back  of  the  result 
is  this:  A  horse  can  think  of  only  one  thing 
at  a  time.  Your  sharp  tone  of  command 

236 


PRACTICAL  SUGGESTIONS 

arrests  his  attention  and  he  forgets  his  fright 
at  the  car  until  you  are  safely  past. 

The  writer  believes  that  the  practice  of 
the  above  simple  suggestions  has  saved  him 
from  causing  many  a  runaway. 

It  may  not  be  generally  conceded,  but  it  is 
nevertheless  true,  that  riding  in  a  motor-car 
is  much  safer  than  in  a  horse-drawn  vehicle. 
Comparative  tests  have  shown  that  a  motor 
vehicle  can  be  stopped  in  one  third  to  one 
fifth  the  distance  required  to  stop  a  horse- 
drawn  vehicle  traveling  at  the  same  speed. 

As  long  ago  as  1825,  a  British  writer  said: 

"It  is  reasonable  to  conclude  that  the  nervous  man  will, 
ere  long,  take  his  place  in  a  carriage  drawn  or  impelled  by  a 
locomotive  engine,  with  more  unconcern  and  with  far  better 
assurance  of  safety  than  he  now  disposes  of  himself  in  one 
drawn  by  four  horses  of  unequaled  powers  and  speeds, 
endowed  with  passions  that  acknowledge  no  control  but 
superior  force,  and  each  separately,  momentarily  liable  to 
all  the  calamities  that  flesh  is  heir  to.  Surely  an  inanimate 
power,  that  can  be  started,  stopped,  and  guided  at  pleasure 
by  the  finger  or  foot  of  man,  must  promise  greater  personal 
security  to  the  traveler  than  a  power  derivable  from  animal 
life,  whose  infirmities  and  passions  require  the  constant 
exercise  of  other  passions,  united  with  muscular  exertion,  to 
remedy  and  control  them." 

Who  has  not  known  instances  where  the 
old  family  horse  has  jogged  on  for  years,  a 

237 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

perfect  pattern  of  docility  and  propriety, 
carrying  the  women  to  church  and  the 
children  to  school,  suddenly  shying  at  the 
most  familiar  objects,  —  a  piece  of  paper  or 
a  wheelbarrow,  bolting  and  scattering  the 
vehicle  in  bits  along  the  highway,  while  the 
bucolic  owner  lifted  his  hands  and  piously 
exclaims,  "Ah  law,  who'd  a  thought  it!" 

That  trenchant  writer  Mr.  Rene  Bache 
not  long  since  published  in  Benjamin  Frank- 
lin's old  paper,  The  Saturday  Evening  Post, 
of  Philadelphia,  an  article  entitled  "The 
Terrible  Horse;  Why  He  is  the  Most  Danger- 
ous Animal  in  the  World."  This  article  is 
so  pertinent  to  the  subject  under  discussion, 
that  a  part  of  it  is  reproduced.  Mr.  Bache, 
after  stating  that  the  horse  is  the  most  danger- 
ous animal  in  the  world,  and  that  it  kills  and 
maims  more  human  beings  than  are  slain  or 
injured  by  any  other  beast,  continues: 

"Owing  to  its  great  usefulness  to  man,  and  to  long  habit 
of  familiar  intimacy  between  the  animal  in  question  and  our- 
selves, the  destruction  it  accomplishes  has  come  to  be  regarded 
as  a  matter  of  course,  not  in  any  way  to  be  avoided,  and, 
therefore,  not  provocative  of  special  attention.  Nobody, 
indeed,  seems  ever  to  have  investigated  the  subject,  or  to 
have  taken  the  trouble  to  get  together  in  a  comprehensive 
way  facts  and  figures  bearing  upon  it. 

"Yet,  of  all  accidents  to  human  beings,  fatal  or  disabling, 
238 


PRACTICAL  SUGGESTIONS 

including  mischances  of  every  kind  and  description,  not  less 
than  twelve  per  cent  are  caused,  directly  or  indirectly,  by 
this  fear-inspiring  creature.  Just  think  of  it  —  twelve  out 
of  every  hundred  mishaps  involving  physical  injury  more 
or  less  serious!  These  are  official  accident-insurance  figures, 
accepted  as  approximate  by  all  of  the  companies,  and  it 
must  be  confessed  that  they  present  a  very  serious  indict- 
ment against  man's  'noble  servant,'  the  horse. 

"Alas!  yes;  it  is  the  horse  that  is  accountable  for  all  this 
mischief.  Indeed,  the  statement  that  it  is  the  most  danger- 
ous animal  in  the  world  may  be  thoroughly  substantiated  by 
reliable  figures.  To  say  that  it '  kills  and  maims  more  human 
beings  than  are  slain  or  injured  by  any  other  beast'  puts  the 
truth  in  the  case  inadequately;  for  the  fact  is  that  not  all  the 
tigers,  lions,  and  other  destructive  creatures  in  existence, 
wild  or  tame,  including  venomous  snakes,  do  more  than  a 
fraction  of  the  amount  of  damage  that  is  inflicted  in  the  way 
of  maiming  and  killing  by  horses. 

"Now  it  is  reckoned  by  the  accident-insurance  com- 
panies that  one  in  every  seven  men  meets  with  a  disabling 
accident  of  some  kind  in  the  course  of  each  twelvemonth. 
On  this  basis  it  is  easily  calculated  that  more  than  six  and  a 
half  millions  of  people  in  this  country  experience  annually 
some  sort  of  disablement. 

"Taking  this  as  the  total  number  of  disabling  accidents, 
and  assuming  that  horses  cause  twelve  per  cent  of  them,  it 
appears  that  these  animals  are  accountable,  directly  or  in- 
directly, for  about  780,000,  or  say  three  quarters  of  a  million, 
more  or  less  serious  mishaps  in  the  United  States  every  year. 
If  these  mischances  result  fatally  in  only  one  per  cent  of  all 
cases  —  certainly  a  very  conservative  estimate  —  the  number 
of  deaths  annually  in  this  country,  attributable  to  horses, 

239 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

cannot  be  far  from  8,000  —  a  loss  of  life  greater  than  would 
be  likely  to  occur  in  a  considerable  battle. 

"In  no  battle  in  the  history  of  the  world  have  one  third  as 
many  persons  been  wounded  as  were  disabled  by  horses  in 
this  country  during  the  last  twelve  months.  There  were 
engaged  in  the  campaign  in  Manchuria,  including  both 
Russians  and  Japanese,  the  largest  forces  that  have  been 
opposed  to  each  other  in  modern  times,  numbering  about 
750,000  —  a  total  less  by  some  thousands,  it  will  be  noticed, 
than  that  of  the  people  injured  by  horses,  directly  or  in- 
directly, in  the  United  States  during  a  twelvemonth. 

"The  chief  cause  of  horse  accidents,  however,  lies  in  the 
fact  that  this  noble  animal  —  beautiful,  docile,  affectionate; 
man's  faithful  friend  and  patient  servant  —  is  born  a  fool, 
and  never  gets  over  it.  Its  intelligence  is  overestimated. 

"One  of  the  accident-insurance  companies  recently  pub- 
lished a  statement,  based  upon  its  own  returns,  which  showed 
that  out  of  one  hundred  average  accidents  caused  by  the 
horse,  the  railroad,  the  automobile  and  the  bicycle,  eighty- 
two  are  attributable  to  the  equine  brute,  nine  to  the  railroad, 
five  to  the  motor-car,  and  four  to  the  'silent  wheel.'  One 
reason  why  physicians  are  rated  as  bad  risks  is  that  they  use 
horses  so  much  for  driving  about,  an  idea  the  justice  of  which 
is  indicated  by  the  fact  that,  out  of  972  accidents  to  doctors 
recorded  by  another  concern,  267,  or  considerably  more  than 
one  fourth,  were  due  to  horses. 

"Statistics  show  that  nearly  half  of  all  the  runaways  are 
delivery  wagons.  The  teams  are  left  unattended  in  the 
street,  something  frightens  the  horses,  and  off  they  go.  When 
carriages  are  run  away  with  —  this  is  a  point  well  worth 
considering  —  the  serious  consequences  are  nearly  always 
due  to  the  foolishness  of  jumping  out.  If  such  a  thing  ever 

240 


PRACTICAL  SUGGESTIONS 

happens  to  you,  remember  that  you  have  nine  chances  out 
of  ten  of  escaping  uninjured  if  you  hang  on. 

"The  accident  companies  do  a  great  deal  of  business  in 
what  they  call  '  team  insurance '  —  a  branch  of  policy- 
writing  which  presents  many  curious  and  eccentric  features. 
One  of  these  concerns,  for  example,  will,  for  ten  dollars  a 
year,  become  responsible  for  all  mishaps  to  human  beings 
that  may  be  caused  by  a  horse  and  buggy.  The  annual 
premium  is  forty-five  dollars,  however,  for  an  ice-wagon, 
which  is  rated  as  almost  the  most  hazardous  of  all  vehicles. 
It  is  open  at  the  back,  with  a  step,  upon  which  children  are 
tempted  to  climb  for  the  purpose  of  getting  pieces  of  ice, 
and,  as  an  additional  element  of  danger,  the  wagon  is  so 
heavy  that,  if  it  does  run  over  anybody,  the  consequences 
are  likely  to  be  fatal. 

"Next  in  the  scale  of  hazard  after  the  ice-wagon  comes 
the  express  wagon.  Being  heavy,  and  moving  at  a  rapid 
trot,  it  is  a  notoriously  dangerous  vehicle. 

"The  only  vehicle  rated  as  more  dangerous  than  the  ice- 
wagon  is  the  newspaper  delivery  wagon,  which  is  considered 
such  a  hazardous  risk  that  most  of  the  companies  regard  it 
as  practically  non-insurable.  Especially  in  the  handling  of 
afternoon  papers  these  wagons  take  extraordinary  chances, 
the  bundles  being  thrown  into  them  at  the  last  possible 
moment,  to  be  transported  in  the  least  number  of  minutes  to 
the  railroad  stations,  or  to  distributing  centers  miles  away. 
Fast  horses  are  used,  and  the  driving  is  utterly  regardless 
of  the  lives  and  limbs  of  pedestrians.  In  New  York  City 
such  wagons  appear  to  enjoy,  without  being  in  the  slightest 
degree  entitled  to  it,  the  same  right  of  way  that  is  possessed 
under  the  law  by  ambulances,  patrol  wagons  and  fire 
engines. 

241 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

"It  is  interesting  to  consider,  for  the  sake  of  comparison, 
that,  whereas  one  out  of  every  nine  disabling  accidents  is 
due  to  horses,  only  one  in  about  five  hundred  is  attributable 
to  dogs.  A  dog-bite,  though  it  may  be  inflicted  quite  in- 
tentionally by  the  brute,  is  classed  as  accidental  by  the  in- 
surance companies.  One  accident  in  eight  hundred,  or 
thereabouts,  is  met  with  in  the  handling  of  cattle,  the  victim 
being  knocked  down,  run  over,  or  hooked;  one  in  two 
thousand  is  contributed  by  the  kick  of  a  mule,  and  one  in 
fifteen  thousand  by  the  bite  of  a  rat.  Record  is  obtain- 
able of  only  one  cat  mishap  to  an  insured  person ;  but  in  this 
case  the  policy-holder  kicked  at  the  animal,  and,  missing  it, 
broke  his  leg  against  a  sofa.  Blood-poisoning  set  in,  and 
he  died. 

"A  discussion  of  dangers  attributable  to  horses  would  be 
incomplete  without  some  reference  to  the  fact  that  they  are 
responsible  for  the  existence  of  the  multitudes  of  house  flies, 
which,  apart  from  the  discomfort  they  cause  in  summer,  are 
known  to  be  carriers  of  disease  germs.  Every  stable  in 
warm  weather  is  a  fly  factory,  in  active  operation  night  and 
day.  It  is  safe  to  predict  that  within  a  few  years  —  say  a 
quarter  of  a  century  hence  at  furthest  —  this  nuisance, 
which  continues  to  exist  simply  because  we  have  not  taken 
the  small  amount  of  trouble  necessary  to  suppress  it,  will 
have  been  practically  done  away  with  by  the  adoption  of 
preventive  measures. 

"When  the  annual  fly  plague  ceases  to  recur,  a  serious 
menace  to  the  health  of  the  community  —  for  which  we 
ourselves  and  not  the  poor  horse  are  really  to  blame  —  will 
have  been  removed. 

"Meanwhile  let  us  acknowledge  that  the  horse,  after  all, 
is  the  most  useful  of  all  animals  to  man,  barring  none,  and 

242 


PRACTICAL  SUGGESTIONS 

that  if,  owing  to  its  timidtiy  and  lack  of  cleverness,  it  is  a 
cause  of  many  serious  and  not  a  few  fatal  accidents,  the  ser- 
vices it  renders  to  the  human  race  are  so  valuable  as  to  com- 
pensate many  times  over  for  all  the  mischief  it  commits." 

These  are  true  words,  and  they  are  just 
as  true  when  applied  to  the  automobile.  It 
has  been  in  the  past,  and  will  continue  to  be, 
the  cause  of  terrible  disasters.  Nevertheless, 
its  services  to  humanity  are  so  great  that  it 
will  compensate  a  thousand  fold  "for  all  the 
mischief"  it  may  occasion. 


243 


CHAPTER  XXIV 

THE   FIRST   AUTOMOBILE   CONTESTS   IN 
AMERICA 

ELEVEN  years  ago  Automobiling  in  America 
was  at  its  beginning.  What  wonderful  prog- 
ress has  been  made  in  a  single  decade. 

A  brief  description  of  those  first  two  mem- 
orable automobile  contests  —  one  in  Chicago 
and  one  in  New  York  —  may  prove  of  in- 
terest. It  is  to  be  noted  that  all  horseless 
vehicles  were  then  known  as  motocycles. 

In  July,  1895,  H.  H.  Kohlsaat,  proprietor 
of  the  Chicago  Times-Herald,  offered,  through 
that  paper,  valuable  prizes,  to  be  awarded 
after  a  contest  or  competition  for  motor  vehi- 
cles, to  take  place  at  Chicago,  November  2d, 
-which  date  was  changed  to  Thanksgiving 
day  —  as  follows : 

"With  a  desire  to  promote,  encourage,  and  stimulate  the 
invention,  development,  perfection,  and  general  adoption  of 
motor  vehicles  or  motocycles,  the  Times-Herald  offers  the 
following  prizes,  amounting  to  $5,000: 

"First  Prize:  $2,000  Gold  Medal,  same  being  open  to 
competition  to  the  world.  Second  Prize:  $1,500,  with  a 

244 


FIRST  AUTOMOBILE  CONTESTS  IN  AMERICA 

stipulation  that  in  the  event  the  first  prize  is  awarded  a  vehicle 
of  foreign  invention  or  manufacture,  the  prize  shall  go  to  the 
most  successful  American  competitor.  Third  Prize:  $1,000. 
Fourth  Prize:  $500.  The  third  and  fourth  prizes  open  to 
all  competitors,  foreign  and  American. 

"It  is  the  earnest  desire  of  this  paper  that  this  contest 
shall  add  to  the  sum  of  our  mechanical  knowledge  in  this, 
the  new  branch  of  the  science  of  transportation. 

"In  making  awards  judges  will  consider  the  various 
points  of  excellence,  rating  them  of  value  in  the  order  named: 

"First:  General  utility,  ease  of  control,  and  adaptability 
to  various  forms  of  work. 
"  Second :    Speed. 

"Third:  Cost,  which  includes  the  original  expense  of  the 
motor  and  its  connecting  mechanism. 

"Fourth:  Economy  of  operation,  average  cost  per  mile 
of  power  required  at  the  various  speeds  which  may  be 
developed. 

"Fifth:    General  appearance  and  excellence  of  design. 

"Hour  of  start,  7.30  A.M. 

"Race  International  in  character. 

"Vehicle  to  carry  two  passengers. 

"Route:  Midway  Plaisance,  Chicago,  to  Evanston,  111., 
and  return,  covering  a  distance  of  fifty-two  miles. 

"A  time  limit  of  thirteen  hours  will  be  set." 

It  was  especially  stated  that  speed  was  not 
the  only  requisite. 

To  govern  the  contest,  thirty-two  elaborate 
rules  were  drawn  up. 

There  were  eighty-six  entries. 

The  following  report  is  condensed  from  that 

245 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

old  and  reliable  pioneer  paper,  The  Horseless 
Age: 

"THROUGH    SNOW    AND    SLUSH   CONTESTANTS    STRUGGLE 
ALONG  —  A  SEVERE  TEST  AND  A  SIGNAL  TRIUMPH 

"Snow  and  slush  lay  from  six  to  eight  inches  deep  over 
the  course. 

"Only  six  wagons  put  in  an  appearance,  as  follows: 

"The  Electrobat  of  Morris  &  Salom. 

"The  gasolene  wagon  of  the  Duryea  Motor  Wagon 
Company. 

"The  Benz  wagon  of  the  H.  Mueller  Manufacturing 
Company. 

"The  Benz  wagon  of  the  De  La  Vergne  Refrigerating 
Machine  Company. 

"The  Roger  wagon,  owned  by  R.  H.  Macy  &  Co. 

"Electric  wagon  of  Harold  Sturges. 

"Four  gasolenes  and  two  electrics. 

"The  Duryeas  came  to  the  scene  of  the  race  and  returned 
after  the  finish  by  their  own  power.  They  were  obliged  to 
enter  the  old  experimental  wagon,  which  was  built  two  years 
ago  and  has  been  run  several  thousand  miles  over  ordinary 
roads.  This  car  was  first  at  the  winning  post. 

"The  Duryea  wagon  led  from  the  beginning  of  the  race, 
but  the  steering  apparatus  broke,  causing  a  delay,  during 
which  the  Macy  wagon  passed  the  competitor  and  led  until 
Evanston  was  reached.  The  Duryea  machine  arrived  at  the 
finish  ten  hours  and  twenty-eight  minutes  from  the  time  of 
starting.  Taking  into  account  the  delay  for  repairs,  the 
Duryea  car  made  an  average  of  about  seven  and  one-half 
miles  an  hour,  the  actual  time  the  vehicle  was  in  motion 
being  seven  and  one-half  hours. 

246 


The  Times-Herald  Cup  Winner,  189.3 


FIRST  AUTOMOBILE  CONTESTS  IN  AMERICA 

"The  Duryea  Motor  Wagon  Company  of  Springfield, 
Mass.,  was  awarded  first  prize  for  best  performance  in  the 
road  race,  for  range  of  speed  and  pull,  with  compactness  of 
design. 

"$1,500  to  H.  Mueller  &  Co.,  motocycle  of  Decatur,  111., 
for  performance  in  the  road  race  and  economy  in  operation. 

"$500  to  R.  H.  Macy  &  Co.,  for  showing  made  in  the 
road  race. 

"An  award  of  the  Times-Herald  Gold  Medal  to  the 
Morris  &  Salom  electrobat  of  Philadelphia  for  best  showing 
made  in  the  official  tests  for  safety,  ease  of  control,  absence 
of  noise,  and  vibration." 

The  Duryea  vehicle  was  the  only  one  able 
to  leave  the  stable  (there  were  no  garages  in 
those  days)  to  go  to  the  starting-point,  cover 
the  course,  and  return  to  the  stable  the  same 
day  under  its  own  power.  The  Mueller 
wagon,  a  modified  Benz,  was  abandoned  near 
the  finish,  because  the  operator  had  fainted. 
The  Macy  wagon,  made  by  Roger,  of  Paris, 
a  Benz  licensee,  remained  on  the  course  all 
night,  finishing  the  next  day. 

A  brief  description  of  this  first  notable 
American  Cup  Winner  will  not  be  out  of 
place. 

The  car  was  designed,  in  1893,  by  that  emi- 
nent pioneer  motor-car  builder,  Mr.  Charles 
E.  Duryea,  and  built  under  his  personal  super- 
vision, in  the  winter  of  1894.  It  was  used 

247 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

almost  daily  in  1895.  From  1892-1897  Mr. 
J.  F.  Duryea  was  associated  with  his  brother 
Charles.  It  is  claimed  that  these  gentlemen 
have  had  a  longer  experience  than  that  pos- 
sessed by  any  other  American  builders  of 
gasolene  vehicles.  The  fact  that  this  four 
horse-power  car,  weighing  twelve  hundred 
pounds,  was  able  to  run  over  the  course  of 
fifty-two  miles  of  deep,  crusted  snow  is  indeed 
remarkable.  It  is  a  feat  many  of  the  higher- 
powered  modern  vehicles  could  not  possibly 
accomplish.  The  one-hand  control,  double- 
cylinder  motor  gear  and  transmission,  giving 
three  speeds  forward  and  reverse,  pump  cir- 
culation, water  tank  forward  under  the  floor 
exposed  to  the  air,  and  parcels  receptacle  in 
the  hollow  dash,  were  features  of  this  vehicle. 
It  further  included  bevel  gear  transmission, 
the  motor  being  placed  with  crank  shaft 
lengthwise  the  vehicle.  The  engine  had  a 
variable  governor  acting  on  the  inlet  valves 
and  an  ingenious  means  for  throttling.  The 
car  had  a  live  rear  axle  and  large  driving 
sprockets.  The  weight  of  the  motor  was  one 
hundred  and  twenty  pounds.  The  front 
wheels  of  the  car  were  thirty-four  inches  in 
diameter,  the  rear  wheels  thirty-eight  inches. 
The  car  had  three  speeds  ahead  —  five,  ten, 

248 


FIRST  AUTOMOBILE  CONTESTS  IN  AMERICA 

and  twenty  miles  per  hour.     The  fuel  cost 
was  less  than  half  a  cent  per  mile. 

The  following  extract  from  a  Chicago  daily 
paper  of  October  29,  1895,  when  read  in  the 
light  of  history,  provokes  a  smile: 

"On  the  very  track  where  Joe  Patchen  won  his  laurels 
not  many  weeks  ago,  in  a  race  with  Gentry,  a  new  rival 
appeared  yesterday  to  make  a  new  record  against  horses  of 
a  different  caliber  from  those  pitted  against  each  other  on 
the  turf.  A  horseless  carriage  swung  into  the  track  devoted 
to  equine  racing,  and,  with  a  gasolene  motor  as  its  motive 
power,  rushed  around  the  mile  circle  in  four  and  one-half 
minutes." 

Think  of  the  blood-curdling  speed  of  the 
"Gas  Wagon,"  going  at  the  rate  of  thirteen 
and  one-third  miles  per  hour! 

That  we  may  not  become  too  enthusiastic, 
however,  in  our  prophecy  that  the  horse  will 
soon  be  displaced  by  the  motor-car,  another 
passage  is  quoted  from  the  same  paper. 
Remember  that  this  was  in  1895: 

"Before  the  Twentieth  Century  is  five  years  old,  the 
horse  will  be  a  very  scarce  article  upon  the  highways  in  the 
civilized  and  densely  settled  parts  of  the  world,  at  least  so 
far  as  a  means  for  the  transportation  of  persons  is  concerned." 

The  article  continues: 

"At  present,  however,  the  prices  of  these  vehicles  seem 
absurdly  high,  ranging  from  $950  for  a  plain,  two-seated 
carriage,  to  $1,375  for  a  four-seated  carriage.  There  seems 

249 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

no  reason  to  the  uninitiated,  unless  it  be  that  an  enormous 
proportion  of  this  is  for  patent  rights,  why  vehicles  of  this 
kind  should  not  be  produced  for  less  than  half  these  figures. 
The  time  for  mechanical  carriages  is  evidently  close  at  hand, 
and  if  our  inventors  are  alive  to  their  important  interests,  they 
will  exert  themselves  to  take  it  by  the  forelock." 

Apropos  the  price  of  cars  the  following  is 
taken  from  a  recent  issue  of  The  Mail: 

"Some  interesting  facts  and  figures  have  come  out  in  the 
course  of  the  suits  now  in  progress  against  manufacturers, 
dealers  and  users  alleged  to  be  infringing  the  Selden  patent. 

"From  January  1,  1903,  to  January  1,  1906,  there  were 
made,  imported,  and  sold,  under  Selden  patent  licenses  issued 
by  the  A.  L.  A.  M.,  41,696  gasolene  vehicles  of  the  value  of 
$63,141,437.22,  on  which  $814,183.52  royalty  was  paid.  The 
increase  of  1904  over  1903  in  number  of  vehicles  was  30  per 
cent,  and  in  gross  value  of  sales  58  per  cent.  The  increase 
of  1905  over  1904  in  number  of  vehicles  was  32.5  per  cent, 
and  in  gross  value  of  sales  66.2  per  cent.  The  gross  business 
in  1905  was  17,840  vehicles,  valued  at  $31,814,758.99. 

"The  average  price  for  1903  was  $1,170,  for  1904  $1,422, 
and  for  1905  $1,784.  The  average  selling  price  for  the  last 
three  years  was  $1,429  for  cars  made  in  the  United  States, 
and  $6,710  for  imported  machines." 

Mr.  Charles  E.  Duryea  writes,  regarding  the 
first  English  automobile  contest,  as  follows: 

"I  think  in  the  matter  of  history  you  will  find  the  first 
English  event  also  interesting,  particularly  to  patriotic  Amer- 
icans, for  this  was  won  by  a  Duryea  vehicle,  clearly  proving 
American  superiority  at  that  time. 

"In  the  London  to  Brighton  run,  held  to  celebrate  'Liberty 
250 


FIRST  AUTOMOBILE  CONTESTS  IN  AMERICA 

Day,'  Nov.  14,  1896,  the  distance  was  fifty-four  miles.  A 
certain  promoter,  who  was  promoting  a  Horseless  Carriage 
Stock  Selling  Company,  tried  to  arrange  everything  so  that 
the  vehicles  controlled  by  his  company  should  win.  There- 
fore the  contest  was  not  run  as  a  race,  but  simply  as  a  parade, 
but  the  front  end  ran  away  from  the  rear  as  fast  as  it  could. 
There  were  nearly  fifty  entries  but  only  about  half  that  many 
starters.  The  two  Duryeas,  not  being  in  the  favored  crowd, 
were  placed  at  the  rear,  or  nearly  so,  with  an  electric  bath 
chair,  good  for  four  miles  an  hour,  in  front.  The  run  was 
well  advertised  locally,  so  for  ten  miles  it  was  impossible  to 
pass  the  bath  chair  because  of  the  crowd.  After  that  the 
Duryea  quickly  passed  to  the  front,  reaching  Reigate  first. 
Here  a  stop  for  lunch  was  ordered,  and  everybody  stopped 
except  the  Bollee  tricycles.  They  continued  on  to  Brighton 
without  stopping,  and  consequently  arrived  first.  The  pro- 
cession left  Reigate  in  the  original  order  and  not  as  per 
arrival.  This  brought  the  first,  second,  and  third  winners, 
with  their  successful  drivers  of  the  '96  French  race,  to  the 
front  a  second  time,  and  compelled  the  Duryea  to  again  pass 
them.  The  Duryea  made  better  running  time  by  more  than 
an  hour,  which  you  will  admit  was  quite  a  victory  for  the 
distance,  considering  the  conditions." 

THE  COSMOPOLITAN  RACE,  RUN  ON 
DECORATION  DAY,  1896 

In  1895,  Mr.  John  Brisben  Walker  pub- 
lished several  articles  in  the  Cosmopolitan 
calling  attention  to  the  probable  early  devel- 
opment of  automobiles.  The  beginning  of 
1896  he  offered  a  prize  of  three  thousand 

251 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

dollars  for  automobile  carriages  to  be  started 
from  the  City  Hall  in  the  city  of  New  York, 
to  run  to  Irvington-on-the-Hudson,  making 
the  turn  in  front  of  the  Cosmopolitan  Build- 
ing, and  then  return  to  the  Ardsley  Country 
Club  for  the  decision.  The  judges  were 
President  Frank  Thompson,  of  the  Pennsyl- 
vania Railroad,  General  Craighill,  Chief  En- 
gineer U.  S.  Army,  Lieutenant-General  Miles, 
Commanding  U.  S.  Army,  Chauncey  M. 
Depew,  Vice-president  Webb  of  the  New 
York  Central,  Colonel  John  Jacob  Astor,  and 
Mr.  John  Brisben  Walker. 

Vice-President  Webb  had  his  inspection 
locomotive  awaiting  the  judges  at  Kings- 
bridge,  to  which  point  they  had  accompanied 
the  automobiles  in  carriages.  The  locomo- 
tive conveyed  these  gentlemen  to  the  Ardsley 
Country  Club,  where  luncheon  was  served. 
About  the  time  luncheon  was  over,  3.15  P.M., 
amidst  great  excitement  of  five  hundred  in- 
vited guests,  Duryea  No.  1  arrived,  thus  win- 
ning the  contest. 

The  prize  was  awarded  for  the  following 
points,  maximum  being  one  hundred:  Speed, 
50;  Simplicity  and  Durability  of  Construc- 
tion 25;  Ease  and  Safety  of  Operation,  15; 
Cost,  10. 

258 


FIRST  AUTOMOBILE  CONTESTS  IN  AMERICA 

The  route  passed  along  Broadway  to  Cen- 
tral Park,  through  Central  Park  to  Washing- 
ton Bridge,  then  along  Broadway  to  Yonkers; 
thence  to  Irvington,  paralleling  the  Hudson, 
passing  through  one  of  the  most  beautiful 
regions  of  America.  The  roads  were  fine. 

An  editorial  on  this  race  was  as  follows: 

"Great  precaution  should  be  taken  to  prevent  accidents 
on  the  road;  attendants  along  the  line  should  be  advised  in 
advance  of  the  approach  of  each  vehicle  so  that  the  streets 
may  be  clear,  and  the  danger  of  running  over  sightseers,  or 
the  colliding  with  other  vehicles,  reduced  to  a  minimum." 

The  contest  started  at  twelve  o'clock.  Nos. 
1,  2,  3,  and  4  were  Duryea  wagons;  No.  5, 
Roger  wagon;  No.  6  was  a  wagon  belonging 
to  Dr.  Booth.  Broadway  was  crowded  with 
sightseers. 

Immense  and  intensely  interested  crowds 
were  encountered  at  Fourteenth  and  Twenty- 
third  Streets.  At  Twenty-third  Street  the 
Roger  wagon  struck  a  pedestrian,  without 
serious  results.  At  One-hundred-and-twenty- 
fifth  Street,  Duryea  No.  4  came  in  collision 
with  a  bicycle  rider,  and  demolished  his 
wheel,  precipitating  the  rider.  The  automobile 
driver  was  placed  under  arrest;  the  car 
dropping  out  of  the  contest. 

At     One-hundred-and-seventy-fifth    Street, 

253 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

the  water-tank  of  Duryea  No.  3  sprung  a 
leak,  and  the  wagon  was  delayed  for  some  time 
in  consequence.  Duryea  No.  1  pushed  on  to 
Kingsbridge,  which  was  reached  at  1.05  P.M., 
making  the  running  time  one  hour  and  five 
minutes  from  City  Hall. 

Duryea  No.  2  arrived  a  few  minutes  later, 
and  the  Roger  wagon  about  fifteen  minutes 
after  the  last  car. 

Here  the  water  tanks  were  refilled.  At 
2  P.M.  the  real  start  began.  The  distance 
from  Kingsbridge  to  Irvington  is  thirteen 
miles,  over  a  hilly  road.  The  Peabody  hill 
in  Yonkers  has  a  grade  of  fifteen  per  cent. 
Duryea  No.  2  stuck  fast  on  the  hill;  the  water 
tank  leaked;  belt  became  wet,  stretched,  and 
gave  much  trouble  through  the  journey. 
Duryea  No.  1  arrived  at  Ardsley  Country 
Club  at  3.15,  as  already  stated.  This  was 
the  opening  day  of  the  Ardsley  Country 
Club.  The  drive  leading  up  to  the  Ards- 
ley House  was  covered  with  broken  stones, 
unrolled;  part  of  the  way  was  up  a  steep 
hill.  Not  one  of  the  contestants  was  able 
to  climb  it,  and  the  cars  had  to  be  pushed 
up. 

On  the  return  trip,  Duryea  No.  1  reached 
City  Hall  at  7.13  P.M.,  Duryea  No  2  reached 

254 


FIRST  AUTOMOBILE  CONTESTS  IN  AMERICA 

City  Hall  at  9  P.M.,  Duryea  No.  3  lost  a 
wheel  in  Yonkers  when  bowling  along  at  a 
good  rate  of  speed,  spilling  out  the  passengers 
and  putting  the  car  out  of  the  race.  The 
Roger  car  was  out  of  commission  at  Dobbs 
Ferry,  owing  to  some  trouble  with  its  mech- 
anism. 

Dr.  Booth's  car  abandoned  the  trip. 

That  evening  Mr.  Walker  gave  a  dinner  to 
the  judges  and  some  forty  friends,  and  much 
merriment  was  indulged  in  and  a  good  deal 
of  fun  poked  at  the  horseless  carriage.  It 
was  stated  that  the  speed  maintained  was 
almost  as  good  as  that  of  an  ordinary  farm 
horse.  The  menu  cards,  instead  of  bearing 
any  date,  were  inscribed,  "The  first  day  of  the 
first  year  of  the  Horseless  Age." 

The  length  of  the  road  was  but  twenty- 
six  miles.  The  distance  covered  at  the  rate 
the  Stanley  car  made  at  Ormond  Beach 
recently,  would  require  less  than  thirteen 
minutes;  yet  this  contest  was  only  so  long 
ago  as  1896. 

Never  before  have  prophets  lived  to  realize 
so  quickly  the  fulfilment  of  their  predictions. 


255 


CHAPTER  XXV 

CONCLUSION 

FROM  the  time  to  which  the  memory  of  man 
runneth  not  to  the  contrary,  nature  has  been 
his  most  inexorable  foe.  We  have  been  told 
that  nature  is  a  cherishing  mother.  It  is  a 
mistake.  "She  sends  her  noisy  brood  of 
children  out  to  play,  careless  alike  of  sunshine 
and  of  storm."  Nature  is  invincible,  inexor- 
able, remorseless.  Violate  her  law  and  she 
will  punish  you,  be  you  saint  or  sinner,  down 
to  the  last  drop  of  good  red  blood  in  your 
beating  heart. 

All  that  nature  does  for  us  is  to  let  us  live. 
We  come  into  the  world  with  a  cry  and  go  out 
with  a  moan. 

From  the  beginning  of  time  man  has  had  to 
struggle  with  his  environment.  At  first  he 
was  heedless  of  nature's  laws,  if  indeed  he  did 
not  oppose  them;  but  in  the  hard  school  of 
experience  he  learned  that  it  was  better  to 
coax  the  old  tyrant  and  to  work  in  harmony 

256 


CONCLUSION 

with  her  —  to  have  her  laws  working  with  his 
forces  rather  than  against  them. 

The  Indian  rubs  two  dry  sticks  together  and 
has  a  fire  to  warm  his  tent.  He  lifts  a  sail 
and  drives  his  canoe  even  against  the  wind, 
thus  saving  himself  the  labor  of  paddling  his 
boat.  He  saws  two  strips  from  the  end  of  a 
round  log,  places  one  on  either  end  of  a  rough, 
axle,  and  forms  a  rude  cart  to  draw  his 
burdens. 

Thus  in  the  childhood  of  the  race  man 
began  in  a  crude  way  to  utilize  the  forces  of 
nature. 

The  history  of  discovery  and  invention 
down  to  the  present  hour  is  but  a  record  of 
how  man  has  either  worked  in  harmony  with 
nature's  laws,  or,  what  is  quite  as  important, 
has  learned  how  to  accomplish  apparent  mira- 
cles by  opposing  one  of  nature's  laws  against 
another. 

Why  does  not  the  law  of  gravity  chain  the 
balloon  to  the  earth  ?  It  is  because  the  gas  is 
lighter  than  the  air,  and  so  opposing  this  law 
to  the  law  of  gravity,  man  climbs  the  unseen 
steps  of  air  and  gazes  into  the  face  of  the 
burning  sun. 

But  what  of  the  Discoverer,  the  Inventor, 
the  Pioneer?  Alas!  the  treatment  of  these  is 

257 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

a  record  of  shame  and  an  indictment  against 
all  history. 

Galileo  was  threatened  with  torture  because 
he  declared  that  the  "world  moves."  Thank 
heaven  it  has  moved  far  since  that  day. 
Columbus,  of  whom  it  has  been  well  said  that 
"to  reward  a  faith  like  his  the  Creator  would 
have  raised  a  continent  out  of  mid-ocean," 
what  was  his  reward  ?  A  dungeon  and  chains 
and  a  crown  of  disgrace. 

Morse  walked  the  streets  of  New  York  de- 
spairing and  penniless,  thinking  his  thoughts 
and  dreaming  his  dream.  Back  in  his  great 
brain  there  lay  coiled  all  the  telegraph  wires 
which  to-day  bless  and  encircle  the  globe. 
But  men  laughed  at  the  dream  and  pitied  the 
dreamer,  until  one  glad  day  that  first  message 
flashed  over  the  wires  and  men  learned  what 
God  had  wrought. 

It  has  been  stated  that  man  has  had  to 
struggle  with  his  environment  as  expressed  in 
the  terms  of  nature's  inexorable  and  hostile 
laws.  But  stern  and  difficult  as  has  been  this 
struggle,  it  has  been  but  half  the  battle.  Igno- 
rance, Prejudice,  and  Custom  make  up  the 
hydra-headed  giant  which  has  ever  blocked  the 
onward  march  of  the  progressive  spirit.  The 
ignorant  man  is  afraid  of  the  unknown;  the 

258 


CONCLUSION 

prejudiced  one  is  the  fool  of  the  Bible  who 
discusses  and  prejudges  that  about  which  he 
knows  naught;  the  slave  of  Custom  finds  his 
exponent  in  the  Chinaman  who  does  exactly 
as  his  ancestors  —  hence  China  has  slept  the 
sodden  sleep  of  stagnation  and  there  has  been 
no  progress  in  forty  centuries. 

Gladstone  defined  a  Conservative  man  as 
one  who  saw  more  of  evil  in  human  nature  to 
fear  than  of  good  to  hope  for;  a  Radical  as  one 
who  saw  more  of  good  in  human  nature  to 
hope  for  than  of  evil  to  fear.  Conservatism  is 
a  virtue,  but  it  is  a  negative  one.  The  most 
conservative  man  in  the  world  is  a  dead  one. 
This  is  true  literally  and  figuratively.  It  is 
the  easiest  thing  imaginable  to  get  a  company 
of  men  to  vote  not  to  do  something  if  the  action 
suggested  is  contrary  to  custom.  Custom  is  to 
society  what  habit  is  to  the  individual.  First 
we  possess  it,  then  with  hooks  of  steel  it 
possesses  us. 

It  requires  a  strong  character,  a  heroic  soul, 
to  break  the  bands  of  custom  and  rise  into  an 
atmosphere  where  he  deliberately  sets  his 
belief  against  universal  dogma  or  opinion. 
But  here  and  there  in  the  background  of  his- 
tory loom  mountain  peaks  of  heroic  mold  - 
very  Jungfraus  and  Mt.  Blancs,  in  the  Alps  of 

259 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

existence.  Were  it  not  so,  "unfilled  with 
westward  wind  Columbus'  sails,  and  in  a  dream 
undreamed  would  slumber  still  this  mighty 
Civilization  of  the  West." 

It  is  a  far  cry  from  that  first  hand  printing- 
press  of  Benjamin  Franklin  to  that  last  word 
of  mechanical  and  engineering  skill  as  ex- 
pressed in  the  Hoe  Printing  Press. 

This  modern  press  with  its  forest  of  levers 
and  cogs  and  wheels  has  a  score  of  points  at 
which  the  pressure  of  an  electric  button  will 
stop  the  entire  mechanism.  But  there  is  only 
one  man  and  one  button  which  will  start  it 
again.  This  aptly  illustrates  the  workings  of 
the  complex  machinery  of  human  progress. 
There  are  many  who  can  object  and  hinder 
and  criticise  and  delay.  There  is  a  lonely  one 
who  can  stand  out  from  among  his  fellows 
and  make  things  go. 

One  of  the  greatest  problems  that  has  ever 
taxed  the  brain  of  man  is  that  of  transportation. 

Civilizations  have  come  and  gone,  Empires 
have  risen,  flourished,  and  passed  into  oblivion. 
The  panorama  of  history  is  full  of  moving 
figures,  and  through  it  all  the  measure  of  man's 
Civilization  is  largely  that  of  his  power  to 
move  through  space  and  to  move  other  things 
through  space. 

260 


CONCLUSION 

"All  is  action,  all  is  motion, 

In  this  mighty  world  of  ours, 
Like  the  current  of  the  ocean 
Man  is  moved  by  unseen  powers. 

"Steadily  but  strongly  moving, 

Life  is  onward  ever  more; 
Still  the  present  is  improving 
On  the  age  that  went  before." 

A  large  part  of  man's  work  in  the  world, 
after  moving  himself,  is  to  move  other  things 
through  space.  It  has  been  said  that  GOD 

CREATES MAN  ONLY  MOVES. 

Recently  I  visited  the  Congressional  Li- 
brary in  Washington.  It  is  perhaps  the  finest, 
the  most  perfect  specimen  of  all  our  modern 
architecture. 

This  colossal  and  exquisite  structure,  .  so 
perfectly  adapted  to  its  use,  is  an  illustration 
of  the  great  fact  that  man  creates  nothing  but 
only  moves  something. 

The  plan  in  the  brain  of  the  architect  was 
transferred  to  paper.  This  in  turn  to  the 
contractor.  Then  came  men  with  plow  and 
scraper,  and  the  earth,  to  make  place  for  the 
foundation,  was  moved  away.  Then  to  the 
marble  hills  of  Vermont  and  the  granite  hills 
of  New  Hampshire  came  other  workmen. 
The  soil  was  moved  away  and  the  rough 

261 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

stone  exposed.  Then  with  sledge  and  wedge 
and  powder  the  rough  marble  was  torn  from 
its  place  where  it  had  been  planted  by  the 
Creator.  Then  came  other  men,  and  with 
defter  touch  and  more  skilful  hand  the  outer 
surface  was  removed  until  in  polished  column 
and  carved  capital  it  was  fit  to  adorn  a  palace. 
Later  the  blocks  were  moved  by  boat  and  rail 
to  the  Capital.  There  other  men  moved  them 
into  their  place,  and  the  building  grew  day  by 
day  until  at  length  it  became  the  frozen  dream 
of  beauty  that  it  is. 

Thus  it  transpires  that  in  all  the  great 
achievements  of  mankind,  wherever  they  are 
of  a  material  nature,  whether  it  be  a  pyramid 
in  Egypt,  a  Taj -Mahal  in  India  or  a  St. 
Peter's  in  Rome,  a  Brooklyn  Bridge  or  a 
modern  sky-scraper,  all  these  are  the  products 
of  man's  intelligence  and  his  power  to  move 
something. 

The  Pyramids  suggest  to  us  a  colossal  civil- 
ization. The  great  Egyptian  King  said  upon 
the  completion  of  the  first  Pyramid :  "  As  long 
as  the  sun  shines  upon  the  earth  this  monument 
shall  endure."  We  know  that  for  uncounted 
centuries  it  has  defied  the  gnawing  tooth  of 
Time. 

I  do  not  hesitate  to  reiterate  that  King 

262 


CONCLUSION 

Edward,  until  the  coming  of  the  motor-car, 
had  no  other  or  different  means  of  individual 
transportation  than  had  the  Rameses,  or 
Cheops,  the  great  King  who  built  the  first 
pyramid. 

Small  wonder  is  it,  then,  that  human  nature, 
constituted  as  it  is,  circumscribed  for  thou- 
sands of  years  by  the  custom  of  using  the 
horse,  the  mule,  or  the  ox,  should  look  with 
disfavor  upon  this  innovation  of  a  self-pro- 
pelled vehicle.  I  may  be  pardoned  if  I 
paraphrase  some  well-known  lines: 

The  Auto,  monster  of  such  hideous  mien 
That  to  be  hated  needs  but  to  be  seen, 
But  seen  too  oft,  familiar  with  its  face, 
We  first  endure,  then  get  one,  and  go  the  pace. 

Our  opponents  say  the  horse  was  here  a 
thousand  years  before  the  motor-car  came; 
true,  indeed,  but  the  motor-car  will  remain  a 
thousand  years  after  the  horse  is  gone. 

The  motor-car  is  fighting  its  way  into  gen- 
eral use  because  it  is  from  every  standpoint 
better  than  the  old  antiquated  method  of  the 
horse-drawn  vehicle.  The  motor-car  is  the 
mightiest  fact  of  modern  life,  and  it  will  soon 
become  a  necessity  of  humanity.  The  efforts 
put  forth  by  puny  and  prejudiced  men  to 
retard  its  development  through  hostile  legis- 

263 


THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

lation  and  otherwise  would  be  ridiculous  if 
they  were  not  pathetic.  One  would  quite  as 
well  undertake  to  thwart  the  law  of  gravity  or 
stay  the  rise  of  the  tides. 

When  Whitney  invented  his  cotton-gin  and 
McCormick  his  reaper,  opposition  was  fierce 
and  bitter  because  the  workmen  claimed  they 
would  be  displaced  by  the  machine  and  starve 
to  death.  But  every  cotton-field  of  the  South 
and  every  wheat-field  of  the  West  is  teeming 
with  contented  laborers,  better  housed,  better 
fed,  better  clothed  than  in  the  good  old  days. 

When  the  history  of  the  human  race  and 
the  triumph  of  mechanical  skill  shall  have 
been  written,  high  up  on  the  roll  of  fame  will 
be  found  the  name  of  Gottlieb  Daimler,  who, 
toiling  long  and  patiently  yonder  in  the  father- 
land, gave  to  the  world  the  first  practical 
modern  motor. 

It  must  not  be  forgotten,  however,  that 
the  automobile  has  its  dangers  as  well  as  its 
delights. 

The  power  and  potency  of  any  agent  for 
good  is  an  exact  measure  of  its  power  for  evil 
under  changed  conditions. 

The  slow-moving  ox-cart  could  transport 
only  a  small  load  at  a  slow  speed.  If  the  ox 
ran  away  not  much  damage  was  done.  A 

264 


CONCLUSION 

modern  motor-car  has  in  it  the  power  of  forty 
or  fifty  or  sixty  ox-drawn  carts.  It  moves 
with  the  speed  of  the  wind  or  the  carrier- 
pigeon,  and  is  a  power  for  good  while  acting 
under  normal  conditions.  But  should  it  be 
misused  or  get  beyond  control  it  is  a  corre- 
spondingly terrible  agent  for  evil.  This  grave 
fact  should  be  taken  into  account  by  every 
automobilist. 

Before  my  final  word  I  want  to  pay  a 
tribute  to  the  Automobile  Club  of  America. 
Under  the  able  administration  of  President 
Dave  Hennen  Morris  it  has  reached  its 
present  high  mark  of  prosperity  and  useful- 
ness. It  now  numbers  almost  a  thousand 
members  and  will  soon  occupy  its  handsome 
home  in  the  city  of  New  York  on  Fifty-fourth 
Street.  The  catalogue  of  the  club's  achieve- 
ments in  behalf  of  automobiling  in  America 
is  too  well  known  to  need  rehearsal  here. 
Without  its  work  the  sport  would  not  enjoy 
the  freedom  it  does  to-day.  Long  life  to  the 
pioneer  Automobile  Club  of  America. 

You  remember  the  story  of  the  old  Roman 

Senator  who  was  so  anxious  for  the  destruc- 

.,    tion   of   Carthage   that   he   never   closed   an 

address  on  any  subject  without  adding  thereto, 

"Carthage  must  be  destroyed";  so  on  every 

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THREE  MEN  IN  A  MOTOR  CAR 

occasion  where  opportunity  affords,  in  private 
or  in  public,  in  season  and  out  of  season,  I 
must  iterate  and  reiterate,  again  and  again, 
that  it  should  not  be  forgotten  that  while  we 
automobilists  have  rights,  we  also  have  re- 
sponsibilities and  a  great  obligation  —  the 
obligation  which  by  every  instinct  of  gentle- 
manly courtesy  and  of  common  humanity  is 
laid  upon  us,  viz. :  to  operate  our  cars  with  the 
greatest  caution  and  with  the  utmost  care  and 
consideration  for  the  rights  of  other  users  of 
the  highway. 

Not  only  is  it  important  that  we  have  our 
cars  always  under  perfect  control,  but  we  must 
so  operate  them  that  the  public  will  see  and 
appreciate  this  fact. 

I  cannot  better  express  my  thought  on  this 
most  important  subject  or  bring  to  a  close 
this  final  chapter  of  this  little  book  than  by 
quoting  the  closing  paragraph  of  my  annual 
address  on  retiring  from  official  connection 
with  the  Automobile  Club  of  America: 

"I  wish,  as  a  final  word,  that  I  might  im- 
press on  you,  and  through  you  upon  automo- 
bilists everywhere  —  and  that  great  army  of 
recruits  which  in  imagination  I  see  even  now 
coming  up  from  all  over  this  fair  land  to  join 
our  ranks  —  that  the  perfect  key  to  the  solu- 

266 


CONCLUSION 

tion  of  the  difficulties  and  differences  which 
unhappily  exist  between  us  and  the  great 
public  is  to  be  found  in  the  spirit  of  the  Golden 
Rule:  Do  unto  other  users  of  the  highway  as 
you  would  that  they  should  do  unto  you. 

"If  we,  automobilists  of  America,  will  but 
act  in  this  spirit,  the  time  will  speedily  come 
when  we  will  look  back  on  the  trials  and  trib- 
ulations of  to-day  as  but  the  harmless  vagaries 
of  an  unpleasant  dream." 


267 


APOSTROPHE  TO  THE  AUTOMOBILE 

O  winged  horse!     O  steed  of  steel! 

Long  centuries  thy  coming  have  awaited. 

Into  thy  vitals  hath  been  poured 

The  deep  distilment  which  the  Sun-God  made 

Ages  ago,  when,  in  the  morn  of  Life, 

He  kissed  the  tropic  forests  with  his  heated  breath, 

And  Bloom  and  Beauty  hid  themselves  in  sleep 

Till  Time  should  make  them  fitted  for  thy  need. 

O  thou  new  King  of  Time  and  Space! 

In  the  hot  furnace  of  forgotten  fires 

Were  forged  thy  nerves  of  steel,  thy  heart  of  iron, 

Awaiting  but  the  magic  touch  of  man 

To  fit  thee  for  thy  true  and  destined  place 

In  the  procession  of  the  triumphs  of  the  ages. 

Go  forth  upon  the  Earth  in  benediction. 

When  Sunrise  Bell  calls  toiler  forth  to  new  day's  work, 

Be  thou  present  to  transport  him  and  his  burden. 

When  weary  man  in  city  street  has  spent  his  vital  force, 

Be  thou  present  to  carry  him  to  country  lane, 

To  flower  and  field  and  forest  green, 

Where  tides  of  life  and  health  set  in  again, 

To  music  from  the  rippling  brook  and  singing  birds. 

Again,  and  yet  again,  and  thrice  again,  I  greet  thee, 

O  thou  last,  best  gift  of  all  the  gods  to  man. 

On  thy  countless  missions  of  peace  and  helpfulness 

Speed  onward  to  Time's  latest  day, 

O  thou  Emancipator  of  the  Human  Race! 


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